I Was the ‘Boys Have a Penis’ Kid from the Classic 1990 Film: A Look Back.

The Austrian Oak is universally recognized as an Hollywood heavyweight. But, during the peak of his star power in the late 20th century, he also headlined several genuinely hilarious comedies. A prime example is Kindergarten Cop, which celebrates its 35-year mark this holiday season.

The Role and An Iconic Moment

In the classic film, Schwarzenegger portrays a undercover cop who masquerades as a schoolteacher to catch a killer. Throughout the story, the procedural element serves as a basic structure for Arnold to film humorous interactions with kids. Arguably the most famous involves a child named Joseph, who spontaneously announces and states the actor, “Males have a penis, and girls get a vagina.” Arnold responds dryly, “Thanks for the tip.”

The young actor was brought to life by child star Miko Hughes. Beyond this role encompassed a recurring role on Full House as the bully to the Olsen twins and the character of the youngster who comes back in the screen translation 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 popular culture events. He recently discussed his recollections 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: I think I was four. I was the most junior of all the kids on set.

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

Yeah, to a degree. They're brief images. They're like visual recollections.

Do you recall how you were cast in Kindergarten Cop?

My mother, mainly would accompany me to auditions. Sometimes it was an open call. There'd be dozens of children and we'd all patiently queue, be seen, be in there briefly, deliver a quick line they wanted and that was it. My parents would coach me on the dialogue and then, as soon as I could read, that was the initial content I was reading.

Do you have an impression of meeting Arnold? What was your feeling about him?

He was very kind. He was enjoyable. He was good-natured, which I guess makes sense. It'd be weird if he was a dick to all the kids in the classroom, that likely wouldn't create a good work environment. He was fun to be around.

“It'd be weird if he was unpleasant to all the kids in the classroom.”

I knew he was a huge celebrity because I was told, but I had never really seen his movies. I felt the importance — it was exciting — but he didn't really intimidate me. He was merely entertaining and I was eager to interact with him when he wasn't busy. He was busy, obviously, but he'd sometimes engage here and there, and we would cling to his muscles. He'd tense up and we'd be holding on. He was really, really generous. He bought every kid in the classroom a yellow cassette player, which at the time was like an iPhone. This was the coolest device, that iconic bright yellow cassette player. I listened to the Power Rangers soundtrack and the Ninja Turtles soundtrack for a long time on that thing. It finally gave out. I also received a real silver 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 is such a landmark. It was a huge film, and it was a wonderful time, and you would think, in retrospect, I would want my memories to be of the star himself, the legendary director, the location shoot, the production design, but my memories are of being a finitely child at lunch. Like, they got everyone pizza, but I avoided pizza. All I would eat was the meat from the top. Then, the Nintendo Game Boy was new. That was the hot thing, and I was quite skilled. I was the youngest and some of the older kids would hand me their devices to beat difficult stages on games because I was able to, and I was quite pleased with myself. So, it's all youthful anecdotes.

That Famous Quote

OK, that specific dialogue, do you remember how it happened? Did you understand the words?

At the time, I likely didn't understand 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 wouldn't usually utter, but I was given approval in this case because it was humorous.

“She really wrestled with it.”

How it was conceived, from what I understand, was they didn't have specific roles. Some character lines were established early on, but once they had the kids together, it was more of a collaboration, but they worked on it while filming and, presumably the filmmakers came to my mom and said, "There's a concept. We want Miko to have this line. Are you okay with this?" My mom paused. She said, "Let me think about it, I need time" and took a day or two. She really wrestled with it. She said she was hesitant, but she felt it will probably be one of the unforgettable moments from the movie and history proved her correct.