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

Arnold Schwarzenegger is rightfully celebrated as an action movie legend. However, in the midst of his blockbuster fame in the eighties and nineties, he also headlined several genuinely hilarious comedies. A prime example is Kindergarten Cop, which hits its 35th anniversary this winter.

The Role and The Famous Scene

In the classic film, Schwarzenegger plays a tough police officer who poses as a kindergarten teacher to locate a fugitive. Throughout the story, the crime storyline functions as a basic structure for Schwarzenegger to share adorable scenes with children. The most unforgettable involves a student named Joseph, who unprompted announces and states the actor, “It's boys who have a penis, females have a vagina.” Schwarzenegger replies icily, “Thank you for that information.”

That iconic child was portrayed by former young actor Miko Hughes. In addition to this part included a notable part on Full House as the schoolyard menace to the Olsen twins and the pivotal role of the resurrected boy in the screen translation of Stephen King’s Pet Sematary. He continues to act today, with a slate of movies on the horizon. Furthermore, he frequently attends the con circuit. Not long ago discussed his recollections from the production after all this time.

A Young Actor's Perspective

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

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

That's remarkable, I can't remember 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 got the part in Kindergarten Cop?

My mother, mainly would bring me to auditions. Sometimes it was an open call. There'd be 20, 30 kids and we'd all simply wait around, go into the room, be in there less than five minutes, do whatever little line they wanted and that's all. My parents would coach me on the dialogue and then, when I became literate, that was some of the first material I was reading.

Do you have an impression of meeting Arnold? What was your take on him?

He was incredibly nice. He was fun. He was good-natured, which arguably stands to reason. It would have been odd if he was mean to all the kids in the classroom, that probably wouldn't make for a productive set. He was great to work with.

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

I understood he was a big action star because that's what my parents told me, but I had not actually watched his movies. I felt the importance — like, that's cool — 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 busy, obviously, but he'd occasionally joke around here and there, and we would cling to his muscles. He'd tense up and we'd be dangling there. He was incredibly giving. He bought every kid in the classroom a personal stereo, which at the time was like an iPhone. That 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 years on that thing on that thing. It finally gave out. I also received a genuine metal whistle. He had the teacher's whistle, and the kids all got a whistle as well.

Do you remember your time filming as being enjoyable?

You know, it's funny, that movie became a phenomenon. It was a major production, and it was an incredible opportunity, and you would think, in retrospect, I would want my memories to be of the star himself, the legendary director, visiting Astoria, seeing the set, but my memories are of being a finitely child at lunch. For example, they got everyone pizza, but I wasn't a pizza fan. All I would eat was the meat from the top. Then, the original Game Boy was just released. That was the big craze, and I was proficient. I was the smallest kid and some of the bigger kids would hand me their devices to beat difficult stages on games because I was able to, and I was really proud of that. So, it's all little kid memories.

The Line

OK, that specific dialogue, 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 knew it was provocative and it made adults laugh. I was aware it was kind of something I wouldn't usually utter, but I was given special permission in this case because it was comedic.

“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 part of the original screenplay, but once they had the kids together, it wasn't pure improvisation, but they refined it on set and, presumably it's either the director or producers came to my mom and said, "We're thinking. We want Miko to have this line. 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. It was a tough call for her. She said she was hesitant, but she believed it could end up as one of the most memorable lines from the movie and her instinct was correct.