I Am the ‘Boys Have a Penis’ Kid from the Classic 1990 Film: A Candid Conversation.

Arnold Schwarzenegger is universally recognized as an iconic tough guy. However, at the height of his star power in the 1980s and 1990s, he also delivered several surprisingly great comedies. The standout film is Kindergarten Cop, which hits its three-and-a-half decade milestone this December.

The Role and The Famous Scene

In the 1990 movie, Schwarzenegger plays a tough police officer who goes undercover as a kindergarten teacher to catch a killer. During the story, the procedural element serves as a basic structure for Arnold to share adorable moments with his young class. Arguably the most famous involves a child named Joseph, who spontaneously rises and declares the actor, “Males have a penis, girls have a vagina.” The Terminator replies icily, “I appreciate the insight.”

That iconic child was portrayed by former young actor Miko Hughes. In addition to this part featured a recurring role on Full House as the bully to the Olsen twins and the character of the youngster who comes back in the screen translation of Stephen King’s Pet Sematary. He still works in film today, with a slate of movies in development. Additionally, he frequently attends the con circuit. Recently shared his memories from the set of Kindergarten Cop after all this time.

Behind the Scenes

Interviewer: First, how old were you when you filmed Kindergarten Cop?

Miko Hughes: I believe I was four. I was the most junior of all the kids on set.

That's impressive, I can't remember being four. Do you retain any flashes from that time?

Yeah, a little bit. They're flashes. They're like visual recollections.

Do you recall how you were cast in Kindergarten Cop?

My mother, mainly would accompany me to auditions. Often it was a mass tryout. There'd be a room full of young actors and we'd all just have to wait, be seen, be in there for a very short time, do whatever little line they wanted and then leave. My parents would feed me the lines and then, as soon as I could read, that was the initial content I was reading.

Do you have a specific memory of meeting Arnold? What was your take on him?

He was extremely gentle. He was fun. He was good-natured, which I guess stands to reason. It would have been odd if he was a dick to all the kids in the classroom, that surely wouldn't foster a positive atmosphere. He was a joy to have on set.

“It would have been odd if he was a dick to all the kids in the classroom.”

I was aware he was a big action star because that's what my parents told me, but I had never really seen his movies. I felt the importance — it was exciting — but he didn't really intimidate me. He was simply playful and I only wanted to hang out with him when he wasn't busy. He was working hard, but he'd kind of play with us here and there, and we would dangle from his limbs. He'd show his strength and we'd be dangling there. He was really, really generous. He purchased for each child in the classroom a personal stereo, which at the time was the hottest tech. This was the coolest device, that iconic bright yellow cassette player. I played the Power Rangers soundtrack and the Ninja Turtles soundtrack for years on that thing on that thing. It wore out in time. I also was given a real silver whistle. He had the referee's whistle, and the kids all got a whistle as well.

Do you remember your experience as being enjoyable?

You know, it's amusing, that movie became a phenomenon. It was a major production, and it was an incredible opportunity, and you would think, as an adult, I would want my memories to be of the star himself, working with [director] Ivan Reitman, the location shoot, the production design, but my memories are of being a selective diner at lunch. Like, they got everyone pizza, but I wasn't a pizza fan. All I would eat was the meat from the top. Then, the first-generation Game Boy was new. That was the coolest toy, and I was proficient. I was the youngest and some of the other children would bring me their Game Boys to get past hard parts on games because I was able to, and I was felt accomplished. So, it's all little kid memories.

That Famous Quote

OK, the penis and vagina line, do you remember anything about it? Did you know what you were saying?

At the time, I likely didn't understand what the word shocking meant, but I realized it got a reaction and it made adults laugh. I understood it was kind of something I wasn't supposed to do, but I was given special permission in this case because it was humorous.

“My mom thought hard about it.”

How it came about, according to family lore, was they hadn't finalized all the dialogue. Some character lines were written into the script, but once they had the whole cast on the set, it wasn't necessarily improv, but they worked on it while filming and, reportedly the filmmakers came to my mom and said, "We're thinking. We want Miko to say this. Are you okay with this?" My mom didn't agree right away. She said, "I need to consider this, I need time" and took a day or two. She deliberated carefully. She said she wasn't sure, but she believed it could end up as one of the iconic quotes from the movie and she was right.