I Was the ‘Boys Have a Penis’ Kid from the Arnold Schwarzenegger Comedy: A Candid Conversation.

The Austrian Oak is universally recognized as an action movie legend. However, during the peak of his star power in the 1980s and 1990s, he also headlined several surprisingly great comedies. The standout film is Kindergarten Cop, which celebrates its three-and-a-half decade milestone this holiday season.

The Film and The Famous Scene

In the 1990 movie, Schwarzenegger plays a tough police officer who masquerades as a elementary educator to track down a criminal. During the story, the crime storyline functions as a simple backdrop for the star to share adorable interactions with kids. Arguably the most famous features a little boy named Joseph, who out of nowhere rises and informs the actor, “Males have a penis, girls have a vagina.” The Terminator responds dryly, “I appreciate the insight.”

The young actor was played by former young actor Miko Hughes. Beyond this role encompassed a recurring role on Full House as the schoolyard menace to the child stars and the character of the child who returns in the 1989 adaptation of Stephen King’s Pet Sematary. He continues to act today, with multiple films listed on his IMDb. Furthermore, he is a regular on popular culture events. Not long ago recalled his recollections from the production over three decades on.

Behind the Scenes

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

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

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

Yeah, somewhat. They're brief images. They're like mental photographs.

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

My family, especially my mother would bring me to auditions. Sometimes it was a mass tryout. There'd be 20, 30 kids and we'd all just have to wait, enter the casting office, be in there for a very short time, deliver a quick line they wanted and that's all. My parents would coach me on the dialogue and then, when I became literate, that was probably the first stuff I was reading.

Do you have a specific memory of meeting Arnold? What was your feeling about him?

He was very kind. He was enjoyable. He was pleasant, which I guess makes sense. It would be strange 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 be strange if he was mean 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 barely seen his movies. I sensed the excitement — 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 sometimes engage here and there, and we would cling to his muscles. He'd flex and we'd be hanging off. He was incredibly giving. He bought every kid in the classroom a yellow cassette player, which at the time was a major status symbol. It was the coolest device, that iconic bright yellow cassette player. I played the Power Rangers soundtrack and the Ninja Turtles soundtrack for ages on that thing. It eventually broke. I also was given a real silver whistle. He had the referee'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 amusing, that movie is such a landmark. It was a major production, and it was a wonderful time, and you would think, in retrospect, I would want my memories to be of working with Arnold, working with [director] Ivan Reitman, the location shoot, being on a professional set, but my memories are of being a finitely child at lunch. For instance, they got everyone pizza, but I avoided pizza. All I would eat was the pepperoni off the top. Then, the first-generation Game Boy was just released. That was the hot thing, and I was quite skilled. I was the smallest kid and some of the other children would hand me their devices to beat difficult stages on games because I could do it, and I was quite pleased with myself. So, it's all youthful anecdotes.

That Famous Quote

OK, the infamous quote, do you remember anything about it? Did you grasp the meaning?

At the time, I wasn't fully aware of what the word provocative meant, but I realized it got a reaction and it got a big laugh. I understood 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, from what I understand, was they didn't have specific roles. A few scenes 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, reportedly someone in charge came to my mom and said, "There's a concept. We want Miko to deliver this dialogue. Are you okay with this?" My mom paused. She said, "Let me think about it, let me sleep on it" and took a short while. She deliberated carefully. She said she wasn't sure, but she felt it will probably be one of the unforgettable moments from the movie and she was right.