I Am the ‘Boys Have a Penis’ Kid from Kindergarten Cop: A Candid Conversation.

The Austrian Oak is rightfully celebrated as an Hollywood heavyweight. But, during the peak of his cinematic dominance in the 1980s and 1990s, he also delivered several surprisingly great comedies. A prime example is Kindergarten Cop, which hits its 35th anniversary this December.

The Story and The Famous Scene

In the classic film, Schwarzenegger plays a undercover cop who masquerades as a elementary educator to locate a fugitive. Throughout the movie, the investigation plot functions as a simple backdrop for Arnold to film humorous moments with his young class. The most unforgettable involves a little boy named Joseph, who spontaneously announces and declares the actor, “Boys have a penis, and girls get a vagina.” The Terminator deadpans, “I appreciate the insight.”

The young actor was played by youth performer Miko Hughes. In addition to this part featured a notable part on Full House as the bully to the child stars and the pivotal role of the child who returns in the screen translation of Stephen King’s Pet Sematary. He continues to act today, with a slate of movies listed on his IMDb. Furthermore, he frequently attends the con circuit. Recently recalled his recollections from the set of Kindergarten Cop 35 years later.

A Young Actor's Perspective

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

Yeah, to a degree. They're brief images. They're like picture memories.

Do you recall how you landed the job in Kindergarten Cop?

My mother, mainly would accompany me to auditions. Sometimes it was like a cattle call. There'd be 20, 30 kids and we'd all simply wait around, be seen, be in there briefly, deliver a quick line they wanted and then leave. My parents would help me learn the words and then, once I learned to read, that was some of the first material I was reading.

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

He was incredibly nice. He was fun. He was nice, which arguably stands to reason. It'd be weird if he was a dick to all the kids in the classroom, that surely wouldn't foster a good work environment. He was fun to be around.

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

I knew he was a major movie star because I was told, but I had never really seen his movies. I felt the importance — he was a big deal — but he wasn't scary to me. He was merely entertaining and I only wanted to hang out with him when he wasn't busy. He was occupied, of course, but he'd sometimes engage here and there, and we would cling to his muscles. He'd tense up and we'd be holding on. He was really, really generous. He bought every kid in the classroom a Sony Walkman, which at the time was the hottest tech. It was the hottest tech out there, that funky old yellow cassette player. I listened to the Power Rangers soundtrack and the Ninja Turtles soundtrack for a long time on that thing. It eventually broke. I also was given a authentic coach's whistle. He had the referee's whistle, and the kids all received one too as well.

Do you remember your time filming as being fun?

You know, it's amusing, that movie was this cultural thing. It was a huge film, and it was such an amazing experience, and you would think, as an adult, 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. For instance, they got everyone pizza, but I wasn't a pizza fan. All I would eat was the toppings only. Then, the original Game Boy was new. That was the hot thing, and I was pretty good at it. I was the youngest and some of the bigger kids would ask for my help to pass certain levels on games because I could do it, and I was really proud of that. So, it's all youthful anecdotes.

The Infamous Moment

OK, the infamous quote, do you remember how it happened? Did you understand the words?

At the time, I likely didn't understand what the word provocative meant, but I realized it got a reaction and it got a big laugh. I understood it was kind of something I shouldn't normally say, but I was given special permission in this case because it was comedic.

“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 entire ensemble assembled, it wasn't pure improvisation, but they developed it during shooting and, I suppose it's either the director or producers came to my mom and said, "We're thinking. 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 some time. It was a tough call for her. She said she wasn't sure, but she thought it will probably be one of the iconic quotes from the movie and history proved her correct.