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

The action icon is rightfully celebrated as an Hollywood heavyweight. However, at the height of his star power in the eighties and nineties, he also delivered several surprisingly great comedies. Chief among them is Kindergarten Cop, which hits its three-and-a-half decade milestone this winter.

The Film and The Famous Scene

In the hit comedy, Schwarzenegger embodies a hardened detective who poses as a elementary educator to catch a killer. Throughout the film's runtime, the procedural element functions as a loose framework for the star to film humorous moments with his young class. Without a doubt the standout belongs to a child named Joseph, who out of nowhere stands up and informs the actor, “It's boys who have a penis, females have a vagina.” The Terminator replies icily, “Thank you for that information.”

That iconic child was played by former young actor Miko Hughes. Beyond this role included a notable part on Full House as the schoolyard menace to the child stars and the haunting part of the resurrected boy in the 1989 adaptation of Stephen King’s Pet Sematary. He continues to act today, with several projects on the horizon. He also engages with fans at popular culture events. Recently recalled his memories from the filming of the classic after all this time.

Memories from the Set

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 impressive, I don't recall being four. Do you retain any flashes from that time?

Yeah, somewhat. They're flashes. They're like mental photographs.

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

My parents, primarily my mom would bring me to auditions. Often 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 for a very short time, do whatever little line they wanted and that's all. My parents would feed me the lines and then, as soon as I could read, that was some of the first material I was reading.

Do you have an impression of meeting Arnold? What was your take on him?

He was extremely gentle. He was fun. He was pleasant, which I guess isn't too surprising. It would have been odd if he was a dick to all the kids in the classroom, that probably wouldn't make for a positive atmosphere. He was fun to be around.

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

I was aware he was a major movie 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 just fun and I was eager to interact with him when he wasn't busy. He was busy, obviously, but he'd occasionally joke around here and there, and we would hang off of his arms. He'd show his strength and we'd be hanging off. He was incredibly giving. He gifted all the students in the classroom a personal stereo, which at the time was the hottest tech. It 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 wore out in time. I also have a real silver whistle. He had the coach whistle, and the kids all were gifted copies as well.

Do you remember your experience as being fun?

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, in retrospect, I would want my memories to be of the star himself, the legendary director, 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 pepperoni off the top. Then, the Nintendo Game Boy was brand new. That was the hot thing, and I was proficient. I was the smallest kid and some of the other children would ask for my help to beat difficult stages on games because I could do it, and I was felt accomplished. So, it's all childhood recollections.

The Line

OK, the infamous quote, do you remember the context? Did you understand the words?

At the time, I wasn't fully aware of what the word shocking meant, but I knew it was provocative and it got a big laugh. I understood it was kind of something I shouldn't normally say, but I was given approval in this case because it was funny.

“She really wrestled with it.”

How it was conceived, based on what I was told, was they didn't have specific roles. Certain bits of dialogue were established early on, but once they had the whole cast on the set, it wasn't pure improvisation, but they refined it on set and, I suppose someone in charge 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, "Let me think about it, I need time" and took a day or two. It was a tough call for her. She said she was hesitant, but she believed it will probably be one of the unforgettable moments from the movie and her instinct was correct.