I Was the ‘Boys Have a Penis’ Kid from Kindergarten Cop: A Candid Conversation.

Arnold Schwarzenegger is universally recognized as an iconic tough guy. But, during the peak of his cinematic dominance in the eighties and nineties, he also starred in several surprisingly great comedies. A prime example is Kindergarten Cop, which celebrates its 35-year mark this winter.

The Role and An Iconic Moment

In the classic film, Schwarzenegger portrays a tough police officer who masquerades as a elementary educator to catch a killer. For much of the film's runtime, the investigation plot serves as a basic structure for Schwarzenegger to film humorous moments with his young class. Arguably the most famous involves a child named Joseph, who out of nowhere announces and declares the actor, “It's boys who have a penis, females have a vagina.” Schwarzenegger responds dryly, “Thanks for the tip.”

The young actor was brought to life by child star Miko Hughes. Beyond this role featured a character arc on Full House as the schoolyard menace to the child stars and the haunting part of the youngster who comes back in the screen translation of Stephen King’s Pet Sematary. He still works in film today, with several projects on the horizon. He also is a regular on the con circuit. He recently recalled his memories from the filming of the classic over three decades on.

Behind the Scenes

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

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

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

Yeah, a little bit. They're flashes. They're like mental photographs.

Do you recall how you got the part in Kindergarten Cop?

My mother, mainly would accompany me to auditions. Often it was a mass tryout. There'd be 20, 30 kids and we'd all patiently queue, be seen, be in there briefly, do whatever little line they wanted and then leave. My parents would coach me on the dialogue and then, when I became literate, 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 very kind. He was enjoyable. He was pleasant, which I suppose stands to reason. It'd be weird if he was mean to all the kids in the classroom, that probably wouldn't make for a good work environment. He was a joy to have on set.

“It would be strange if he was unpleasant to all the kids in the classroom.”

I was aware he was a major movie star because that's what my parents told 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 simply playful and I just wanted to play with him when he was available. He was working hard, but he'd occasionally joke around here and there, and we would cling to his muscles. He'd show his strength and we'd be hanging off. He was really, really generous. He purchased for each child in the classroom a Sony Walkman, which at the time was a major status symbol. This was the coolest device, that distinctive classic yellow cassette player. I listened to the Power Rangers soundtrack and the Ninja Turtles soundtrack for a long time on that thing. It eventually broke. I also received a authentic coach's whistle. He had the coach whistle, and the kids all got a whistle as well.

Do you remember your time filming as being fun?

You know, it's amusing, that movie is such a landmark. It was a major production, and it was such an amazing experience, and you would think, in retrospect, I would want my memories to be of working with Arnold, the legendary director, traveling to Oregon, the production design, but my memories are of being a finitely child 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 big craze, and I was quite skilled. I was the youngest and some of the older kids would bring me their Game Boys to beat difficult stages on games because I knew how, 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 understand the words?

At the time, I probably didn't know what the word taboo meant, but I knew it was provocative and it made adults laugh. I knew it was kind of something I wouldn't usually utter, but I was given special permission in this case because it was funny.

“She really wrestled with it.”

How it was conceived, based on what I was told, was they didn't have specific roles. Certain bits of dialogue were written into the script, but once they had the kids together, it wasn't necessarily improv, but they worked on it while filming and, I suppose it's either the director or producers came to my mom and said, "There's a concept. We want Miko to say this. Are you okay with this?" My mom didn't answer immediately. She said, "Give me a moment, let me sleep on it" and took a day or two. She really wrestled with it. She said she had doubts, but she believed it will probably be one of the most memorable lines from the movie and she was right.