I Am the ‘Boys Have a Penis’ Kid from Kindergarten Cop: An Interview.

Arnold Schwarzenegger is best known as an Hollywood heavyweight. But, during the peak of his cinematic dominance in the eighties and nineties, he also starred in several genuinely hilarious comedies. The standout film is Kindergarten Cop, which hits its three-and-a-half decade milestone this holiday season.

The Story and An Iconic Moment

In the classic film, Schwarzenegger portrays a tough police officer who masquerades as a kindergarten teacher to track down a criminal. Throughout the film's runtime, the procedural element acts as a loose framework for Arnold to have charming moments with his young class. Without a doubt the standout involves a child named Joseph, who out of nowhere rises and informs the former bodybuilder, “It's boys who have a penis, females have a vagina.” The Terminator responds dryly, “Thank you for that information.”

That iconic child was brought to life by youth performer Miko Hughes. His career included a character arc on Full House as the bully to the child stars and the character of the resurrected boy in the film version of Stephen King’s Pet Sematary. He still works in film today, with several projects in development. He also engages with fans at fan conventions. He recently discussed his memories from the set of Kindergarten Cop after all this time.

Behind the Scenes

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

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

That's impressive, I can't remember being four. Do you remember anything from that time?

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

Do you recall how you were cast in Kindergarten Cop?

My family, especially my mother would accompany me to auditions. Sometimes it was a mass tryout. There'd be dozens of children and we'd all just have to wait, go into the room, be in there less than five minutes, 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 an impression of meeting Arnold? What was your feeling about him?

He was incredibly nice. He was fun. He was good-natured, which I suppose isn't too surprising. It would be strange if he was unpleasant to all the kids in the classroom, that probably wouldn't make for a positive atmosphere. He was great to work with.

“It would have been odd if he was a dick 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 never really seen his movies. I sensed the excitement — he was a big deal — but he didn't frighten me. He was simply playful and I only wanted to hang out with him when he wasn't busy. He was occupied, of course, but he'd kind of play with us 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 gifted all the students in the classroom a yellow cassette player, which at the time was the hottest tech. It was the hottest tech out there, that iconic bright 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 was given a authentic coach's whistle. He had the coach whistle, and the kids all were gifted copies as well.

Do you remember your time filming as being enjoyable?

You know, it's amusing, that movie was this cultural thing. 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 the star himself, the legendary director, traveling to Oregon, seeing the set, but my memories are of being a finitely child at lunch. For instance, they got everyone pizza, but I wasn't a pizza fan. All I would eat was the pepperoni off the top. Then, the Nintendo Game Boy was brand new. That was the big craze, and I was proficient. I was the youngest and some of the older kids would hand me their devices to get past hard parts on games because I was able to, and I was really proud of that. So, it's all little kid memories.

The Infamous Moment

OK, that specific dialogue, do you remember anything about it? Did you understand the words?

At the time, I wasn't fully aware of what the word shocking meant, but I realized it got a reaction and it made adults laugh. I was aware it was kind of something I wasn't supposed to do, but I was given special permission in this case because it was humorous.

“It was a difficult decision for her.”

How it originated, from what I understand, was they were still developing characters. Certain bits of dialogue 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, I suppose it's either the director or producers came to my mom and said, "There's a concept. We want Miko to have this line. Are you okay with this?" My mom didn't answer immediately. She said, "I need to consider this, I need time" and took a short while. She really wrestled with it. She said she wasn't sure, but she believed it will probably be one of the unforgettable moments from the movie and history proved her correct.