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

The action icon is universally recognized as an Hollywood heavyweight. However, in the midst of his star power in the late 20th century, he also delivered several critically acclaimed comedies. The standout film is Kindergarten Cop, which marks its three-and-a-half decade milestone this December.

The Story and An Iconic Moment

In the hit comedy, Schwarzenegger plays a hardened detective who goes undercover as a elementary educator to locate a fugitive. During the movie, the procedural element acts as a simple backdrop for the star to film humorous scenes with children. Arguably the most famous involves a student named Joseph, who out of nowhere announces and states the stoic star, “It's boys who have a penis, and girls get a vagina.” Arnold deadpans, “Thank you for that information.”

The young actor was played by child star Miko Hughes. Beyond this role featured a recurring role on Full House as the bully to the Olsen twins and the haunting part of the resurrected boy in the 1989 adaptation of Stephen King’s Pet Sematary. Hughes remains active today, with several projects listed on his IMDb. Additionally, he frequently attends popular culture events. Not long ago recalled his memories from the production 35 years later.

Memories from the Set

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

Miko Hughes: I believe I was four. I was the most junior 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, somewhat. They're snapshots. They're like picture memories.

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

My family, especially my mother would take me to auditions. Frequently it was an open call. There'd be a room full of young actors and we'd all simply wait around, enter the casting office, be in there briefly, deliver a quick line they wanted and that was it. My parents would feed me the lines and then, once I learned to read, that was the initial content I was reading.

Do you have any recollection of meeting Arnold? What was your take on him?

He was extremely gentle. He was playful. He was good-natured, which I guess stands to reason. It would have been odd if he was unpleasant to all the kids in the classroom, that likely wouldn't create a productive set. He was a joy to have on set.

“It would have been odd if he was mean to all the kids in the classroom.”

I understood 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 — it was exciting — but he wasn't scary to me. He was merely entertaining and I was eager to interact with him when he was available. He was working hard, but he'd sometimes engage here and there, and we would cling to his muscles. He'd tense up and we'd be hanging off. He was really, really generous. He purchased for each child in the classroom a yellow cassette player, which at the time was a major status symbol. This was the hottest tech out there, that funky old 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 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 enjoyable?

You know, it's funny, that movie was this cultural thing. It was such a big movie, 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, traveling to Oregon, being on a professional set, but my memories are of being a selective diner at lunch. For example, they got everyone pizza, but I didn't even like pizza. All I would eat was the pepperoni off the top. Then, the original Game Boy was just released. That was the coolest toy, and I was quite skilled. I was the smallest kid and some of the older kids would hand me their devices to pass certain levels on games because I knew how, and I was really proud of that. So, it's all little kid memories.

That Famous Quote

OK, that specific dialogue, do you remember how it happened? Did you know what you were saying?

At the time, I wasn't fully aware of what the word shocking meant, but I knew it was provocative and it caused the crew to chuckle. I knew it was kind of something I wouldn't usually utter, but I was given special permission in this case because it was comedic.

“She really wrestled with it.”

How it originated, based on what I was told, 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 worked on it while filming and, reportedly 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 paused. She said, "I need to consider this, I'll decide tomorrow" and took a short while. She deliberated carefully. She said she wasn't sure, but she felt it will probably be one of the iconic quotes from the movie and history proved her correct.