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

The action icon is universally recognized as an Hollywood heavyweight. But, during the peak 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 35th anniversary this holiday season.

The Story and An Iconic Moment

In the hit comedy, Schwarzenegger plays a undercover cop who goes undercover as a kindergarten teacher to catch a killer. Throughout the story, the procedural element acts as a loose framework for Schwarzenegger to film humorous interactions with kids. Arguably the most famous involves a child named Joseph, who unprompted stands up and declares the former bodybuilder, “It's boys who have a penis, females have a vagina.” The Terminator deadpans, “Thank you for that information.”

The boy behind the line was portrayed by child star Miko Hughes. His career included a character arc on Full House as the bully 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 multiple films on the horizon. Additionally, he engages with fans at fan conventions. Not long ago shared his memories from the filming of the classic over three decades on.

A Young Actor's Perspective

Q: To begin, 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 brief images. They're like mental photographs.

Do you recall how you were cast in Kindergarten Cop?

My parents, primarily my mom would take me to auditions. Frequently it was like a cattle call. There'd be a room full of young actors and we'd all simply wait around, enter the casting office, be in there for a very short time, 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 impression of him?

He was very kind. He was enjoyable. He was nice, which I guess stands to reason. It would be strange if he was unpleasant to all the kids in the classroom, that surely wouldn't foster a productive set. He was a joy to have on set.

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

I was aware 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 wasn't scary to me. He was just fun and I only wanted to hang out with him when he wasn't busy. He was busy, obviously, but he'd sometimes engage here and there, and we would hang off of his arms. He'd flex and we'd be holding on. 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. That was the coolest device, that funky old yellow cassette player. I listened to the Power Rangers soundtrack and the Ninja Turtles soundtrack for years on that thing on that thing. It eventually broke. I also was given a real silver whistle. He had the referee's whistle, and the kids all were gifted copies as well.

Do you remember your days on set as being positive?

You know, it's interesting, that movie became a phenomenon. 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 working with Arnold, the direction of Ivan Reitman, visiting Astoria, the production design, but my memories are of being a finitely child at lunch. For instance, they got everyone pizza, but I avoided pizza. All I would eat was the pepperoni off the top. Then, the first-generation Game Boy was brand new. That was the coolest toy, and I was proficient. I was the youngest and some of the bigger kids would ask for my help to get past hard parts on games because I knew how, and I was really proud of that. So, it's all youthful anecdotes.

That Famous Quote

OK, the infamous quote, do you remember anything about it? Did you understand the words?

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

“She really wrestled with it.”

How it originated, from what I understand, was they were still developing characters. A few scenes 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 someone in charge came to my mom and said, "There's a concept. We want Miko to deliver this dialogue. Are you okay with this?" My mom didn't agree right away. 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 wasn't sure, but she felt it could end up as one of the most memorable lines from the movie and history proved her correct.