I'm Known As the ‘Boys Have a Penis’ Kid from Kindergarten Cop: An Interview.

The Austrian Oak is rightfully celebrated as an action movie legend. But, at the height of his star power in the eighties and nineties, he also starred in several critically acclaimed comedies. Chief among them is Kindergarten Cop, which marks its three-and-a-half decade milestone this holiday season.

The Film and The Famous Scene

In the classic film, Schwarzenegger portrays a tough police officer who masquerades as a elementary educator to catch a killer. For much of the story, the procedural element functions as a loose framework for Arnold to have charming scenes with children. Without a doubt the standout belongs to a little boy named Joseph, who out of nowhere rises and informs the actor, “It's boys who have a penis, girls have a vagina.” Schwarzenegger responds dryly, “Thanks for the tip.”

That iconic child was played by child star Miko Hughes. In addition to this part featured a character arc on Full House playing the antagonist to the child stars and the character of the youngster who comes back in the screen translation of Stephen King’s Pet Sematary. He still works in film today, with multiple films in development. Furthermore, he frequently attends the con circuit. He recently shared his experiences from the set of Kindergarten Cop after all this time.

Memories from the Set

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

Miko Hughes: I believe I was four. I was the youngest of all the kids on set.

Wow, I don't recall being four. Do you retain any flashes from that time?

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

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

My parents, primarily my mom would bring me to auditions. Sometimes it was like a cattle call. There'd be dozens of children and we'd all simply wait around, be seen, be in there for a very short time, do whatever little line they wanted and that was it. My parents would feed me the lines and then, as soon as I could read, that was some of the first material I was reading.

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

He was incredibly nice. He was fun. 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 great to work with.

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

I knew he was a major movie 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 frighten me. He was merely entertaining and I just wanted to play with him when he wasn't busy. He was busy, obviously, but he'd kind of play with us here and there, and we would dangle from his limbs. He'd flex and we'd be hanging off. He was really, really generous. He bought every kid in the classroom a yellow cassette player, which at the time was like an iPhone. This was the must-have gadget, that iconic bright yellow cassette player. I used to rock out to the Power Rangers soundtrack and the Ninja Turtles soundtrack for a long time on that thing. It finally gave out. 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 enjoyable?

You know, it's interesting, that movie is such a landmark. It was a major production, and it was an incredible opportunity, and you would think, looking back now, I would want my memories to be of the star himself, the direction of Ivan Reitman, traveling to Oregon, being on a professional set, but my memories are of being a really picky eater 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 just released. That was the big craze, 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 pass certain levels on games because I was able to, and I was really proud of that. So, it's all youthful anecdotes.

The Line

OK, that specific dialogue, do you remember how it happened? Did you understand the words?

At the time, I wasn't fully aware of what the word shocking meant, but I understood it was edgy and it got a big laugh. I was aware it was kind of something I wasn't supposed to do, but I was given approval in this case because it was funny.

“My mom thought hard about it.”

How it was conceived, based on what I was told, was they were still developing characters. Certain bits of dialogue were written into the script, but once they had the entire ensemble assembled, it wasn't necessarily improv, but they worked on it while filming and, reportedly the filmmakers came to my mom and said, "We're thinking. We want Miko to have this line. Are you okay with this?" My mom paused. She said, "I need to consider this, I'll decide tomorrow" and took some time. She deliberated carefully. She said she was hesitant, but she felt it will probably be one of the iconic quotes from the movie and history proved her correct.