I Am the ‘Boys Have a Penis’ Kid from the Arnold Schwarzenegger Comedy: A Look Back.

The Austrian Oak is universally recognized as an action movie legend. But, in the midst of his blockbuster fame in the eighties and nineties, he also starred in several genuinely hilarious comedies. The standout film is Kindergarten Cop, which marks its 35-year mark this December.

The Role and The Famous Scene

In the 1990 movie, Schwarzenegger plays a hardened detective who masquerades as a schoolteacher to catch a killer. For much of the movie, the crime storyline functions as a simple backdrop for Schwarzenegger to have charming scenes with children. The most unforgettable belongs to a student named Joseph, who out of nowhere announces and states the actor, “It's boys who have a penis, girls have a vagina.” Schwarzenegger replies icily, “Thanks for the tip.”

The boy behind the line was portrayed by youth performer Miko Hughes. Beyond this role encompassed a character arc on Full House as the bully to the child stars and the haunting part of the resurrected boy in the film version of Stephen King’s Pet Sematary. He still works in film today, with a slate of movies in development. Furthermore, he engages with fans at popular culture events. Not long ago shared his recollections from the production over three decades on.

A Young Actor's Perspective

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

Miko Hughes: My understanding is I was four. I was the youngest of all the kids on set.

That's remarkable, I can't remember 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 were cast in Kindergarten Cop?

My mother, mainly would bring me to auditions. Sometimes it was an open call. There'd be a room full of young actors and we'd all just have to wait, be seen, be in there briefly, do whatever little line they wanted and that's all. 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 feeling about him?

He was very kind. He was fun. He was good-natured, which arguably isn't too surprising. It would be strange if he was unpleasant to all the kids in the classroom, that probably wouldn't make for a productive set. He was fun to be around.

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

I knew he was a huge celebrity because that's what my parents told me, but I had barely seen his movies. I sensed the excitement — it was exciting — but he didn't frighten me. He was simply playful and I just wanted to play with him when he wasn't busy. He was working hard, but he'd occasionally joke around here and there, and we would hang off of his arms. He'd show his strength and we'd be hanging off. He was exceptionally kind. He bought every kid in the classroom a personal stereo, which at the time was like an iPhone. That was the must-have gadget, that funky old yellow cassette player. I listened to the Power Rangers soundtrack and the Ninja Turtles soundtrack for ages on that thing. It finally gave out. I also received a authentic coach's whistle. He had the coach whistle, and the kids all got a whistle as well.

Do you remember your experience as being enjoyable?

You know, it's funny, that movie became a phenomenon. It was such a big movie, and it was such an amazing experience, and you would think, in retrospect, I would want my memories to be of collaborating with Schwarzenegger, working with [director] Ivan Reitman, the location shoot, being on a professional set, but my memories are of being a selective diner at lunch. For instance, they got everyone pizza, but I didn't even like pizza. All I would eat was the meat from the top. Then, the Nintendo Game Boy was new. That was the hot thing, and I was quite skilled. I was the youngest and some of the other children would hand me their devices to beat difficult stages on games because I was able to, and I was quite pleased with myself. So, it's all youthful anecdotes.

That Famous Quote

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

At the time, I probably didn't know what the word taboo meant, but I knew it was provocative and it got a big laugh. 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 funny.

“It was a difficult decision for her.”

How it was conceived, from what I understand, was they didn't have specific roles. Some character lines were written into the script, but once they had the whole cast on the set, it wasn't pure improvisation, but they developed it during shooting and, presumably it's either the director or producers came to my mom and said, "There's a concept. We want Miko to deliver this dialogue. Are you okay with this?" My mom didn't answer immediately. She said, "I need to consider this, let me sleep on it" and took some time. She really wrestled with it. She said she had doubts, but she thought it could end up as one of the unforgettable moments from the movie and she was right.