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

Arnold Schwarzenegger is universally recognized as an Hollywood heavyweight. But, at the height of his cinematic dominance in the 1980s and 1990s, he also starred in several surprisingly great comedies. A prime example is Kindergarten Cop, which marks its 35th anniversary this December.

The Film and The Famous Scene

In the classic film, Schwarzenegger embodies a undercover cop who goes undercover as a elementary educator to track down a criminal. For much of the story, the procedural element acts as a basic structure for the star to share adorable moments with his young class. Without a doubt the standout features a child named Joseph, who out of nowhere stands up and informs the actor, “It's boys who have a penis, girls have a vagina.” The Terminator responds dryly, “I appreciate the insight.”

The young actor was played by youth performer Miko Hughes. In addition to this part encompassed a character arc on Full House as the schoolyard menace to the child stars and the character of the resurrected boy in the film version of Stephen King’s Pet Sematary. He continues to act today, with a slate of movies listed on his IMDb. Additionally, he frequently attends popular culture events. Not long ago recalled his recollections from the filming of the classic 35 years later.

Behind the Scenes

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

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

That's remarkable, I don't recall being four. Do you have any memories from that time?

Yeah, somewhat. They're snapshots. They're like mental photographs.

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

My family, especially my mother would accompany me to auditions. Sometimes it was like a cattle call. There'd be dozens of children and we'd all patiently queue, be seen, be in there less than five minutes, do whatever little line they wanted and that's all. My parents would feed me the lines and then, when I became literate, that was probably the first stuff I was reading.

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

He was extremely gentle. 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'd be weird if he was a dick to all the kids in the classroom.”

I was aware he was a huge celebrity because I was told, but I had never really seen his movies. I sensed the excitement — it was exciting — but he didn't frighten me. He was merely entertaining and I only wanted to hang out with him when he wasn't busy. He was busy, obviously, but he'd occasionally joke around here and there, and we would hang off of his arms. He'd tense up and we'd be holding on. He was really, really generous. He bought every kid in the classroom a yellow cassette player, which at the time was like an iPhone. It was the must-have gadget, 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 have a real silver whistle. He had the teacher's whistle, and the kids all got a whistle as well.

Do you remember your days on set as being enjoyable?

You know, it's amusing, that movie is such a landmark. It was such a big movie, and it was such an amazing experience, and you would think, looking back now, I would want my memories to be of collaborating with Schwarzenegger, the direction of Ivan Reitman, traveling to Oregon, the production design, but my memories are of being a really picky eater at lunch. For instance, they got everyone pizza, but I avoided pizza. All I would eat was the meat from the top. Then, the Nintendo Game Boy was new. That was the coolest toy, and I was quite skilled. I was the smallest kid and some of the bigger kids would hand me their devices 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, the infamous quote, do you remember the context? Did you understand the words?

At the time, I wasn't fully aware of what the word taboo meant, but I realized it got a reaction and it caused the crew to chuckle. I knew it was kind of something I wasn't supposed to do, but I was given special permission in this case because it was humorous.

“It was a difficult decision for her.”

How it was conceived, according to family lore, was they were still developing characters. A few scenes were established early on, but once they had the kids together, it wasn't pure improvisation, but they developed it during shooting and, I suppose someone in charge came to my mom and said, "There's a concept. We want Miko to have this line. Are you okay with this?" My mom paused. She said, "Give me a moment, I need time" and took a day or two. She really wrestled with it. She said she was hesitant, but she believed it will probably be one of the most memorable lines from the movie and her instinct was correct.