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

The Austrian Oak is universally recognized as an action movie legend. Yet, in the midst of his blockbuster fame in the 1980s and 1990s, he also starred in several surprisingly great comedies. The standout film is Kindergarten Cop, which celebrates its 35th anniversary this winter.

The Story and An Iconic Moment

In the classic film, Schwarzenegger embodies a tough police officer who masquerades as a kindergarten teacher to track down a criminal. During the story, the investigation plot serves as a basic structure for Schwarzenegger to have charming moments with his young class. Without a doubt the standout features a student named Joseph, who out of nowhere stands up and informs the stoic star, “Males have a penis, females have a vagina.” The Terminator responds dryly, “I appreciate the insight.”

The young actor was brought to life by child star Miko Hughes. His career featured a notable part on Full House as the schoolyard menace to the famous sisters 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 multiple films in development. Furthermore, he frequently attends the con circuit. Not long ago shared his memories from the filming of the classic after all this time.

Behind the Scenes

Question: Starting off, 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 impressive, I don't recall being four. Do you have any memories from that time?

Yeah, somewhat. They're flashes. They're like visual recollections.

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

My parents, primarily my mom would take me to auditions. Sometimes 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 less than five minutes, read a small part they wanted and that was it. My parents would help me learn the words and then, when I became literate, that was the initial content I was reading.

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

He was extremely gentle. He was playful. He was nice, which I guess stands to reason. It would have been odd if he was mean to all the kids in the classroom, that probably wouldn't make for a good work environment. He was fun to be around.

“It would be strange if he was mean to all the kids in the classroom.”

I was aware he was a huge celebrity because that's what my parents told me, but I had never really seen his movies. I felt the importance — he was a big deal — but he didn't really intimidate me. He was just fun and I only wanted to hang out with him when he wasn't busy. He was occupied, of course, but he'd occasionally joke around here and there, and we would hang off of his arms. He'd flex and we'd be hanging off. He was exceptionally kind. He gifted all the students in the classroom a yellow cassette player, which at the time was a major status symbol. That was the coolest device, that iconic bright yellow cassette player. I played the Power Rangers soundtrack and the Ninja Turtles soundtrack for years on that thing on that thing. It wore out in time. I also was given a genuine metal 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 fun?

You know, it's interesting, that movie was this cultural thing. It was such a big movie, and it was such an amazing experience, and you would think, in retrospect, I would want my memories to be of the star himself, working with [director] Ivan Reitman, traveling to Oregon, the production design, but my memories are of being a selective diner 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 brand new. That was the big craze, and I was proficient. I was the youngest and some of the other children would hand me their devices to get past hard parts on games because I was able to, and I was felt accomplished. So, it's all childhood recollections.

The Line

OK, that specific dialogue, 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 got a big laugh. I was aware 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, according to family lore, was they didn't have specific roles. A few scenes were established early on, but once they had the whole cast on the set, it wasn't necessarily improv, but they developed it during shooting and, reportedly it's either the director or producers came to my mom and said, "We have an idea. We want Miko to say this. Are you okay with this?" My mom paused. She said, "I need to consider this, let me sleep on it" and took a short while. She deliberated carefully. She said she had doubts, but she believed it could end up as one of the unforgettable moments from the movie and she was right.