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

The action icon is best known as an Hollywood heavyweight. Yet, in the midst of his cinematic dominance in the late 20th century, he also delivered several critically acclaimed comedies. Chief among them is Kindergarten Cop, which hits its three-and-a-half decade milestone this December.

The Film and The Famous Scene

In the classic film, Schwarzenegger embodies a tough police officer who masquerades as a schoolteacher to locate a fugitive. For much of the story, the crime storyline functions as a basic structure for Arnold to film humorous moments with his young class. Arguably the most famous involves a child named Joseph, who spontaneously rises and states the actor, “It's boys who have a penis, and girls get a vagina.” Schwarzenegger responds dryly, “Thank you for that information.”

The young actor was portrayed by youth performer Miko Hughes. His career featured a recurring role on Full House as the bully to the famous sisters and the character of the youngster who comes back in the 1989 adaptation of Stephen King’s Pet Sematary. He continues to act today, with multiple films listed on his IMDb. Additionally, he engages with fans at the con circuit. He recently shared his memories 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 think I was four. I was the youngest of all the kids on set.

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

Yeah, a little bit. They're flashes. They're like visual recollections.

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

My parents, primarily my mom would accompany me to auditions. Often it was a mass tryout. There'd be a room full of young actors and we'd all just have to wait, go into the room, be in there for a very short time, read a small part they wanted and that's all. My parents would feed me the lines and then, once I learned to read, that was probably the first stuff I was reading.

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

He was extremely gentle. He was playful. He was nice, which arguably makes sense. It would have been odd if he was unpleasant to all the kids in the classroom, that likely wouldn't create a productive set. He was great to work with.

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

I knew he was a huge celebrity because my family informed me, but I had never really seen his movies. I sensed the excitement — it was exciting — but he didn't really intimidate me. He was simply playful and I just wanted to play with him when he was available. He was occupied, of course, but he'd kind of play with us here and there, and we would dangle from his limbs. He'd show his strength and we'd be holding on. He was incredibly giving. He gifted all the students in the classroom a yellow cassette player, which at the time was a major status symbol. This was the must-have gadget, 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 finally gave out. I also received a genuine metal whistle. He had the referee's whistle, and the kids all got a whistle as well.

Do you remember your days on set as being positive?

You know, it's funny, that movie was this cultural thing. It was a major production, and it was a wonderful time, and you would think, looking back now, I would want my memories to be of working with Arnold, the direction of Ivan Reitman, traveling to Oregon, the production design, but my memories are of being a finitely child at lunch. For instance, they got everyone pizza, but I avoided pizza. All I would eat was the toppings only. Then, the first-generation Game Boy was new. That was the hot thing, and I was quite skilled. 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 felt accomplished. So, it's all youthful anecdotes.

That Famous Quote

OK, the infamous quote, do you remember anything about it? Did you know what you were saying?

At the time, I likely didn't understand what the word taboo meant, but I realized it got a reaction and it caused the crew to chuckle. I understood it was kind of something I shouldn't normally say, 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. 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, presumably the filmmakers came to my mom and said, "There's a concept. We want Miko to say this. Are you okay with this?" My mom paused. She said, "Let me think about it, let me sleep on it" 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 iconic quotes from the movie and she was right.