I Am the ‘Boys Have a Penis’ Kid from the Classic 1990 Film: A Look Back.

Arnold Schwarzenegger is rightfully celebrated as an iconic tough guy. Yet, at the height of his star power in the late 20th century, he also delivered several critically acclaimed comedies. The standout film is Kindergarten Cop, which marks its 35-year mark this holiday season.

The Story and An Iconic Moment

In the 1990 movie, Schwarzenegger embodies a tough police officer who goes undercover as a schoolteacher to locate a fugitive. For much of the story, the crime storyline serves as a simple backdrop for Arnold to film humorous interactions with kids. Arguably the most famous involves a student named Joseph, who spontaneously rises and declares the former bodybuilder, “Boys have a penis, females have a vagina.” Schwarzenegger replies icily, “Thanks for the tip.”

The young actor was brought to life by former young actor Miko Hughes. Beyond this role featured a recurring role on Full House as the bully to the Olsen twins and the haunting part of the youngster who comes back in the film version of Stephen King’s Pet Sematary. He still works in film today, with multiple films listed on his IMDb. Additionally, he frequently attends popular culture events. He recently discussed his memories from the filming of the classic 35 years later.

A Young Actor's Perspective

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.

Wow, I don't recall being four. Do you remember anything from that time?

Yeah, to a degree. They're flashes. They're like visual recollections.

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

My family, especially my mother would accompany me to auditions. Often it was like a cattle call. There'd be 20, 30 kids and we'd all patiently queue, go into the room, be in there less than five minutes, do whatever little line they wanted and then leave. My parents would feed me the lines and then, as soon as I could read, that was the initial content I was reading.

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

He was very kind. He was enjoyable. He was good-natured, which I guess stands to reason. It would be strange if he was unpleasant to all the kids in the classroom, that likely wouldn't create a positive atmosphere. He was a joy to have on set.

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

I was aware he was a huge celebrity because my family informed me, but I had barely seen his movies. I knew the air around him — like, that's cool — but he wasn't scary to me. He was merely entertaining and I was eager to interact with him when he was available. He was working hard, 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 dangling there. He was really, really generous. He bought every kid in the classroom a yellow cassette player, which at the time was a major status symbol. That 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 ages on that thing. It eventually broke. I also have a genuine metal whistle. He had the coach whistle, and the kids all got a whistle as well.

Do you remember your days on set as being fun?

You know, it's funny, that movie became a phenomenon. 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, working with [director] Ivan Reitman, the location shoot, being on a professional set, but my memories are of being a finitely child at lunch. Like, they got everyone pizza, but I wasn't a pizza fan. All I would eat was the toppings only. Then, the Nintendo Game Boy was brand new. That was the big craze, and I was pretty good at it. I was the smallest kid and some of the older kids would hand me their devices 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 Line

OK, the penis and vagina line, do you remember how it happened? Did you know what you were saying?

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

“My mom thought hard about it.”

How it came about, based on what I was told, was they didn't have specific roles. Some character lines were part of the original screenplay, but once they had the whole cast on the set, it wasn't necessarily improv, but they worked on it while filming and, presumably it's either the director or producers came to my mom and said, "We have an idea. We want Miko to deliver this dialogue. Are you okay with this?" My mom paused. She said, "Give me a moment, let me sleep on it" and took a short while. It was a tough call for her. She said she was hesitant, but she thought it will probably be one of the most memorable lines from the movie and she was right.