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

The action icon is universally recognized as an iconic tough guy. But, during the peak of his star power in the late 20th century, he also headlined several surprisingly great comedies. The standout film is Kindergarten Cop, which hits its three-and-a-half decade milestone this winter.

The Role and That Line

In the hit comedy, Schwarzenegger portrays a tough police officer who poses as a schoolteacher to locate a fugitive. Throughout the movie, the procedural element functions as a basic structure for the star to film humorous interactions with kids. Arguably the most famous belongs to a little boy named Joseph, who out of nowhere announces and states the actor, “It's boys who have a penis, and girls get a vagina.” Schwarzenegger responds dryly, “Thank you for that information.”

That iconic child was played by child star Miko Hughes. In addition to this part featured a recurring role on Full House playing the antagonist to the famous sisters and the character of the resurrected boy in the screen translation of Stephen King’s Pet Sematary. He continues to act today, with several projects on the horizon. Additionally, he is a regular on fan conventions. Recently shared his recollections from the set of Kindergarten Cop after all this time.

Behind the Scenes

Q: To begin, 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 impressive, I have no memory from being four. Do you remember anything from that time?

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

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

My parents, primarily my mom would take 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 for a very short time, read a small part they wanted and that's all. 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 feeling about him?

He was incredibly nice. He was fun. He was nice, which I guess makes sense. It'd be weird if he was unpleasant to all the kids in the classroom, that surely wouldn't foster a good work environment. He was fun to be around.

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

I understood he was a major movie star because that's what my parents told me, but I had not actually watched his movies. I knew the air around him — he was a big deal — but he wasn't scary to me. He was just fun and I was eager to interact with him when he had time. He was busy, obviously, but he'd kind of play with us here and there, and we would dangle from his limbs. He'd flex 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 like an iPhone. That was the hottest tech out there, that distinctive classic 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 finally gave out. I also have a authentic coach's whistle. He had the teacher's whistle, and the kids all got a whistle as well.

Do you remember your experience as being positive?

You know, it's interesting, that movie became a phenomenon. It was a huge film, and it was an incredible opportunity, and you would think, in retrospect, I would want my memories to be of working with Arnold, working with [director] Ivan Reitman, visiting Astoria, seeing the set, but my memories are of being a really picky eater 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 Nintendo Game Boy was new. That was the big craze, and I was pretty good at it. I was the smallest kid and some of the other children would ask for my help to get past hard parts on games because I could do it, and I was really proud of that. So, it's all little kid memories.

The Infamous Moment

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

At the time, I likely didn't understand what the word taboo meant, but I knew it was provocative and it caused the crew to chuckle. I knew it was kind of something I wasn't supposed to do, but I was given special permission in this case because it was comedic.

“It was a difficult decision for her.”

How it originated, based on what I was told, was they hadn't finalized all the dialogue. A few scenes were part of the original screenplay, but once they had the entire ensemble assembled, it wasn't pure improvisation, but they refined it on set and, presumably someone in charge 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 agree right away. 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 felt it would likely become one of the most memorable lines from the movie and she was right.