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

The Austrian Oak is rightfully celebrated as an action movie legend. Yet, at the height of his blockbuster fame in the 1980s and 1990s, he also headlined several critically acclaimed comedies. The standout film is Kindergarten Cop, which celebrates its 35th anniversary this holiday season.

The Film and That Line

In the classic film, Schwarzenegger plays a tough police officer who goes undercover as a kindergarten teacher to locate a fugitive. Throughout the film's runtime, the procedural element serves as a basic structure for the star to film humorous moments with his young class. The most unforgettable features a student named Joseph, who unprompted stands up and informs the former bodybuilder, “It's boys who have a penis, girls have a vagina.” Arnold deadpans, “Thank you for that information.”

That iconic child was portrayed by youth performer Miko Hughes. In addition to this part encompassed a character arc on Full House as the bully to the Olsen twins and the pivotal role of the resurrected boy in the film version of Stephen King’s Pet Sematary. He still works in film today, with multiple films in development. Additionally, he frequently attends popular culture events. Recently discussed his recollections from the filming of the classic 35 years later.

Memories from the Set

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

Yeah, somewhat. 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 accompany me to auditions. Often it was an open call. There'd be 20, 30 kids and we'd all just have to wait, be seen, be in there less than five minutes, deliver a quick 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 feeling about him?

He was incredibly nice. He was fun. He was pleasant, which I guess stands to reason. It would have been odd if he was unpleasant to all the kids in the classroom, that probably wouldn't make for a positive atmosphere. He was fun to be around.

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

I was aware he was a big action star because I was told, but I had never really seen his movies. I knew the air around him — like, that's cool — but he didn't really intimidate me. He was simply playful and I only wanted to hang out with him when he was available. He was occupied, of course, but he'd occasionally joke around here and there, and we would dangle from his limbs. He'd tense up and we'd be hanging off. He was exceptionally kind. He purchased for each child in the classroom a yellow cassette player, which at the time was the hottest tech. That was the hottest tech out there, that funky old yellow cassette player. I used to rock out to the Power Rangers soundtrack and the Ninja Turtles soundtrack for ages on that thing. It finally gave out. I also was given a authentic coach's whistle. He had the teacher's whistle, and the kids all received one too as well.

Do you remember your experience as being fun?

You know, it's funny, that movie became a phenomenon. It was a major production, 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, working with [director] Ivan Reitman, visiting Astoria, being on a professional 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 pepperoni off the top. Then, the first-generation 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 bigger kids would hand me their devices to get past hard parts on games because I could do it, and I was really proud of that. So, it's all little kid memories.

The Line

OK, that specific dialogue, do you remember the context? Did you grasp the meaning?

At the time, I probably didn't know what the word provocative meant, but I understood it was edgy and it made adults 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 humorous.

“My mom thought hard about it.”

How it originated, from what I understand, was they hadn't finalized all the dialogue. Certain bits of dialogue were written into the script, but once they had the whole cast on the set, it was more of a collaboration, but they worked on it while filming and, I suppose it's either the director or producers came to my mom and said, "We're thinking. We want Miko to deliver this dialogue. Are you okay with this?" My mom didn't agree right away. She said, "Give me a moment, let me sleep on it" and took a day or two. She deliberated carefully. She said she wasn't sure, but she felt it will probably be one of the unforgettable moments from the movie and history proved her correct.