I Was the ‘Boys Have a Penis’ Kid from Kindergarten Cop: A Look Back.

The Austrian Oak is best known as an action movie legend. However, during the peak of his cinematic dominance in the late 20th century, he also delivered several surprisingly great comedies. A prime example is Kindergarten Cop, which celebrates its three-and-a-half decade milestone this December.

The Film and That Line

In the classic film, Schwarzenegger embodies a hardened detective who poses as a schoolteacher to locate a fugitive. During the film's runtime, the procedural element acts as a simple backdrop for Arnold to film humorous moments with his young class. The most unforgettable belongs to a little boy named Joseph, who out of nowhere rises and declares the actor, “Males have a penis, girls have a vagina.” Arnold responds dryly, “I appreciate the insight.”

The boy behind the line was portrayed by former young actor Miko Hughes. In addition to this part featured a character arc on Full House as the schoolyard menace to the famous sisters and the character of the youngster who comes back in the 1989 adaptation of Stephen King’s Pet Sematary. Hughes remains active today, with multiple films in development. He also engages with fans at the con circuit. Recently discussed his experiences from the filming of the classic over three decades on.

Behind the Scenes

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

Miko Hughes: I think I was four. I was the smallest 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, to a degree. They're brief images. They're like visual recollections.

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

My parents, primarily my mom would bring me to auditions. Frequently it was like a cattle call. There'd be dozens of children and we'd all just have to wait, be seen, be in there less than five minutes, read a small part they wanted and that's all. My parents would feed me the lines 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 feeling about him?

He was incredibly nice. He was enjoyable. He was pleasant, which I suppose isn't too surprising. It would have been odd if he was unpleasant to all the kids in the classroom, that surely wouldn't foster a good work environment. He was a joy to have on set.

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

I knew 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 — like, that's cool — but he didn't really intimidate me. He was just fun and I only wanted to hang out with him when he was available. He was working hard, 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 holding on. He was really, really generous. He bought every kid in the classroom a personal stereo, which at the time was like an iPhone. It was the hottest tech out there, that funky old yellow cassette player. I played the Power Rangers soundtrack and the Ninja Turtles soundtrack for a long time on that thing. It wore out in time. I also received a genuine metal whistle. He had the teacher's whistle, and the kids all received one too 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 a huge film, and it was an incredible opportunity, and you would think, in retrospect, I would want my memories to be of the star himself, the legendary director, visiting Astoria, seeing the set, but my memories are of being a finitely child at lunch. Like, they got everyone pizza, but I didn't even like pizza. All I would eat was the meat from the top. Then, the original Game Boy was new. That was the coolest toy, and I was pretty good at it. I was the smallest kid and some of the other children would bring me their Game Boys to get past hard parts on games because I knew how, and I was quite pleased with myself. So, it's all childhood recollections.

The Infamous Moment

OK, the infamous quote, do you remember how it happened? Did you know what you were saying?

At the time, I likely didn't understand what the word provocative meant, but I understood it was edgy and it got a big laugh. I was aware it was kind of something I wouldn't usually utter, but I was given special permission in this case because it was humorous.

“It was a difficult decision for her.”

How it came about, from what I understand, was they hadn't finalized all the dialogue. Certain bits of dialogue were part of the original screenplay, 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, "We're thinking. We want Miko to say this. Are you okay with this?" My mom didn't agree right away. She said, "Give me a moment, I need time" and took a day or two. It was a tough call for her. She said she had doubts, but she felt it would likely become one of the iconic quotes from the movie and history proved her correct.