I'm Known As the ‘Boys Have a Penis’ Kid from the Arnold Schwarzenegger Comedy: A Look Back.

The Austrian Oak is best known as an Hollywood heavyweight. However, in the midst of his star power in the late 20th century, he also headlined several genuinely hilarious comedies. Chief among them is Kindergarten Cop, which celebrates its three-and-a-half decade milestone this holiday season.

The Story and That Line

In the 1990 movie, Schwarzenegger portrays a hardened detective who goes undercover as a kindergarten teacher to locate a fugitive. During the story, the procedural element serves as a loose framework for Schwarzenegger to film humorous moments with his young class. Without a doubt the standout involves a student named Joseph, who unprompted announces and states the actor, “It's boys who have a penis, females have a vagina.” Arnold deadpans, “I appreciate the insight.”

The boy behind the line was portrayed by youth performer Miko Hughes. His career included a recurring role on Full House as the schoolyard menace to the Olsen twins and the pivotal role of the resurrected boy in the screen translation of Stephen King’s Pet Sematary. Hughes remains active today, with multiple films in development. Furthermore, he engages with fans at fan conventions. Not long ago shared his memories from the production 35 years later.

Behind the Scenes

Q: To begin, how old were you when you filmed Kindergarten Cop?

Miko Hughes: My understanding is 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 remember anything 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 parents, primarily my mom would bring me to auditions. Often it was like a cattle call. There'd be a room full of young actors and we'd all just have to wait, go into the room, be in there briefly, read a small part they wanted and then leave. My parents would coach me on the dialogue and then, when I became literate, that was the initial content I was reading.

Do you have a specific memory of meeting Arnold? What was your impression of him?

He was incredibly nice. He was playful. He was good-natured, which I suppose stands to reason. It'd be weird if he was a dick to all the kids in the classroom, that likely wouldn't create a productive set. He was a joy to have on set.

“It'd be weird if he was unpleasant 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 — it was exciting — but he didn't really intimidate me. He was just fun and I was eager to interact with him when he had time. He was busy, obviously, but he'd kind of play with us here and there, and we would hang off of his arms. He'd show his strength and we'd be hanging off. He was exceptionally kind. He purchased for each child in the classroom a yellow cassette player, which at the time was the hottest tech. This was the coolest device, that funky old yellow cassette player. I played 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 genuine metal whistle. He had the teacher's whistle, and the kids all received one too as well.

Do you remember your time filming as being positive?

You know, it's amusing, that movie is such a landmark. It was a huge film, and it was an incredible opportunity, and you would think, in retrospect, I would want my memories to be of collaborating with Schwarzenegger, working with [director] Ivan Reitman, visiting Astoria, seeing the 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 brand new. That was the coolest toy, and I was pretty good at it. I was the youngest and some of the bigger kids would hand me their devices to beat difficult stages on games because I knew how, and I was felt accomplished. So, it's all childhood recollections.

The Infamous Moment

OK, that specific dialogue, do you remember anything about it? Did you know what you were saying?

At the time, I probably didn't know what the word shocking meant, but I realized it got a reaction and it made adults laugh. I knew it was kind of something I wouldn't usually utter, but I was given approval in this case because it was funny.

“She really wrestled with it.”

How it came about, according to family lore, was they were still developing characters. A few scenes were written into the script, but once they had the whole cast on the set, it was more of a collaboration, but they refined it on set and, I suppose it's either the director or producers came to my mom and said, "There's a concept. We want Miko to say this. Are you okay with this?" My mom didn't answer immediately. She said, "Let me think about it, let me sleep on it" and took some time. It was a tough call for her. She said she wasn't sure, but she felt it would likely become one of the most memorable lines from the movie and she was right.