I Am the ‘Boys Have a Penis’ Kid from the Arnold Schwarzenegger Comedy: An Interview.

Arnold Schwarzenegger is universally recognized as an iconic tough guy. However, during the peak of his blockbuster fame in the 1980s and 1990s, he also headlined several critically acclaimed comedies. Chief among them is Kindergarten Cop, which marks its 35-year mark this December.

The Role and The Famous Scene

In the hit comedy, Schwarzenegger plays a hardened detective who goes undercover as a kindergarten teacher to locate a fugitive. Throughout the movie, the crime storyline 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 unprompted stands up and states the former bodybuilder, “Boys have a penis, and girls get a vagina.” The Terminator responds dryly, “I appreciate the insight.”

The boy behind the line was portrayed by youth performer Miko Hughes. In addition to this part encompassed a recurring role on Full House as the schoolyard menace to the Olsen twins and the haunting part of the child who returns in the film version of Stephen King’s Pet Sematary. He continues to act today, with a slate of movies on the horizon. He also engages with fans at fan conventions. He recently shared his recollections from the production after all this time.

Behind the Scenes

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

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

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

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

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

My mother, mainly would take me to auditions. Sometimes it was a mass tryout. There'd be dozens of children and we'd all simply wait around, go into the room, be in there briefly, deliver a quick line they wanted and then leave. 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 any recollection of meeting Arnold? What was your impression of him?

He was extremely gentle. He was enjoyable. He was nice, which I suppose makes sense. It would be strange if he was mean to all the kids in the classroom, that probably wouldn't make for a good work environment. He was great to work with.

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

I was aware he was a big action star because I was told, but I had never really seen his movies. I knew the air around him — he was a big deal — but he didn't frighten me. He was just fun and I was eager to interact with him when he wasn't busy. He was busy, obviously, but he'd kind of play with us here and there, and we would cling to his muscles. He'd flex and we'd be dangling there. He was incredibly giving. He gifted all the students in the classroom a yellow cassette player, which at the time was a major status symbol. It was the must-have gadget, that distinctive classic yellow cassette player. I played the Power Rangers soundtrack and the Ninja Turtles soundtrack for ages on that thing. It finally gave out. I also received a genuine metal whistle. He had the coach whistle, and the kids all got a whistle as well.

Do you remember your days on set as being enjoyable?

You know, it's amusing, that movie became a phenomenon. It was a major production, and it was a wonderful time, and you would think, looking back now, I would want my memories to be of collaborating with Schwarzenegger, working with [director] Ivan Reitman, visiting Astoria, being on a professional set, but my memories are of being a selective diner at lunch. For example, they got everyone pizza, but I avoided pizza. All I would eat was the toppings only. Then, the original Game Boy was brand new. That was the coolest toy, 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 could do it, and I was quite pleased with myself. So, it's all youthful anecdotes.

The Line

OK, that specific dialogue, do you remember anything about it? Did you grasp the meaning?

At the time, I probably didn't know what the word provocative meant, but I realized it got a reaction and it got a big laugh. I knew it was kind of something I shouldn't normally say, but I was given an exception in this case because it was comedic.

“She really wrestled with it.”

How it came about, from what I understand, was they hadn't finalized all the dialogue. Certain bits of dialogue were established early on, but once they had the kids together, it wasn't pure improvisation, but they developed it during shooting and, reportedly the filmmakers came to my mom and said, "We have an idea. We want Miko to deliver this dialogue. Are you okay with this?" My mom didn't answer immediately. She said, "I need to consider this, let me sleep on it" and took a short while. She deliberated carefully. She said she was hesitant, but she thought it would likely become one of the iconic quotes from the movie and she was right.