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

The Austrian Oak is best known as an action movie legend. Yet, in the midst of his cinematic dominance in the eighties and nineties, he also starred in several critically acclaimed comedies. The standout film is Kindergarten Cop, which marks its 35-year mark this winter.

The Story and The Famous Scene

In the 1990 movie, Schwarzenegger embodies a hardened detective who goes undercover as a schoolteacher to track down a criminal. For much of the story, the crime storyline acts as a loose framework for Arnold to share adorable scenes with children. Arguably the most famous features a child named Joseph, who out of nowhere stands up and declares the actor, “Males have a penis, females have a vagina.” The Terminator responds dryly, “Thank you for that information.”

The boy behind the line was played by youth performer Miko Hughes. Beyond this role encompassed a character arc on Full House playing the antagonist to the Olsen twins and the haunting part of the youngster who comes back in the 1989 adaptation of Stephen King’s Pet Sematary. He continues to act today, with a slate of movies in development. Furthermore, he frequently attends popular culture events. Recently recalled his recollections from the set of Kindergarten Cop 35 years later.

Behind the Scenes

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

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

That's remarkable, I have no memory from being four. Do you have any memories from that time?

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

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

My parents, primarily my mom would take me to auditions. Sometimes it was an open call. There'd be dozens of children and we'd all patiently queue, be seen, be in there briefly, do whatever little line they wanted and that's all. My parents would help me learn the words and then, as soon as I could read, that was some of the first material I was reading.

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

He was extremely gentle. He was playful. He was nice, which I suppose makes sense. It'd be weird 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 would have been odd if he was mean to all the kids in the classroom.”

I knew he was a major movie star because I was told, but I had never really seen his movies. I sensed the excitement — he was a big deal — but he didn't really intimidate me. He was simply playful and I was eager to interact with him when he had time. He was busy, obviously, but he'd sometimes engage here and there, and we would hang off of his arms. He'd flex and we'd be hanging off. He was incredibly giving. He bought every kid in the classroom a Sony Walkman, which at the time was like an iPhone. It was the must-have gadget, that distinctive classic yellow cassette player. I listened to the Power Rangers soundtrack and the Ninja Turtles soundtrack for a long time on that thing. It wore out in time. I also was given a real silver 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 is such a landmark. It was such a big movie, and it was an incredible opportunity, and you would think, looking back now, I would want my memories to be of working with Arnold, the legendary director, traveling to Oregon, seeing the set, but my memories are of being a selective diner at lunch. Like, they got everyone pizza, but I didn't even like pizza. 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 quite skilled. I was the youngest and some of the bigger kids would hand me their devices to get past hard parts on games because I was able to, and I was felt accomplished. So, it's all little kid memories.

The Line

OK, the infamous quote, do you remember anything about it? Did you grasp the meaning?

At the time, I probably didn't know what the word provocative meant, but I knew it was provocative and it caused the crew to chuckle. I was aware it was kind of something I shouldn't normally say, but I was given an exception in this case because it was funny.

“She really wrestled with it.”

How it came about, according to family lore, 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 refined it on set and, I suppose 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 deliberated carefully. She said she had doubts, but she thought it would likely become one of the iconic quotes from the movie and history proved her correct.