I'm Known As the ‘Boys Have a Penis’ Kid from the Arnold Schwarzenegger Comedy: A Candid Conversation.

Arnold Schwarzenegger is best known as an Hollywood heavyweight. Yet, in the midst of his blockbuster fame in the 1980s and 1990s, he also starred in several surprisingly great comedies. The standout film is Kindergarten Cop, which hits its three-and-a-half decade milestone this December.

The Film and An Iconic Moment

In the 1990 movie, Schwarzenegger portrays a tough police officer who goes undercover as a elementary educator to track down a criminal. For much of the story, the crime storyline serves as a basic structure for Schwarzenegger to film humorous interactions with kids. Without a doubt the standout involves a student named Joseph, who out of nowhere rises and informs the former bodybuilder, “It's boys who have a penis, and girls get a vagina.” Schwarzenegger responds dryly, “Thank you for that information.”

That iconic child was portrayed by former young actor Miko Hughes. His career encompassed a character arc on Full House as the bully to the child stars and the pivotal role of the resurrected boy in the 1989 adaptation of Stephen King’s Pet Sematary. He still works in film today, with multiple films listed on his IMDb. Furthermore, he engages with fans at the con circuit. He recently discussed his recollections from the filming of the classic after all this time.

Memories from the Set

Question: Starting off, how old were you when you filmed Kindergarten Cop?

Miko Hughes: My understanding is I was four. I was the smallest of all the kids on set.

That's impressive, I have no memory from being four. Do you have any memories from that time?

Yeah, to a degree. They're snapshots. They're like picture memories.

Do you recall how you landed the job in Kindergarten Cop?

My parents, primarily my mom would accompany me to auditions. Sometimes it was an open call. There'd be 20, 30 kids and we'd all just have to wait, be seen, be in there briefly, do whatever little line they wanted and that was it. My parents would feed me the lines and then, when I became literate, that was the initial content I was reading.

Do you have any recollection of meeting Arnold? What was your impression of him?

He was incredibly nice. He was playful. He was good-natured, which I suppose makes sense. It would have been odd if he was a dick to all the kids in the classroom, that probably wouldn't make for a productive set. He was great to work with.

“It'd be weird if he was mean to all the kids in the classroom.”

I was aware he was a big action star because my family informed me, but I had never really seen his movies. I knew the air around him — like, that's cool — but he didn't frighten me. He was merely entertaining and I was eager to interact with him when he had time. 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 holding on. He was exceptionally kind. He gifted all the students in the classroom a personal stereo, which at the time was a major status symbol. It was the hottest tech out there, that funky old yellow cassette player. I used to rock out to the Power Rangers soundtrack and the Ninja Turtles soundtrack for a long time on that thing. It eventually broke. I also received a real silver whistle. He had the teacher's whistle, and the kids all were gifted copies as well.

Do you remember your days on set as being fun?

You know, it's interesting, that movie was this cultural thing. It was a huge film, and it was an incredible opportunity, and you would think, as an adult, I would want my memories to be of collaborating with Schwarzenegger, the legendary director, traveling to Oregon, seeing the set, but my memories are of being a really picky eater at lunch. For instance, they got everyone pizza, but I avoided pizza. All I would eat was the pepperoni off the top. Then, the Nintendo Game Boy was brand new. That was the coolest toy, and I was pretty good at it. I was the smallest kid and some of the older kids would ask for my help to pass certain levels on games because I could do it, and I was felt accomplished. So, it's all childhood recollections.

That Famous Quote

OK, the infamous quote, do you remember the context? Did you understand the words?

At the time, I wasn't fully aware of what the word provocative meant, but I understood it was edgy and it got a big laugh. I knew it was kind of something I wasn't supposed to do, but I was given approval in this case because it was humorous.

“My mom thought hard about it.”

How it originated, based on what I was told, was they hadn't finalized all the dialogue. Certain bits of dialogue were part of the original screenplay, but once they had the whole cast on the set, it was more of a collaboration, but they developed it during shooting and, presumably 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'll decide tomorrow" and took a day or two. She really wrestled with it. She said she wasn't sure, but she felt it could end up as one of the most memorable lines from the movie and she was right.