I'm Known As the ‘Boys Have a Penis’ Kid from the Classic 1990 Film: A Look Back.

The action icon is rightfully celebrated as an Hollywood heavyweight. Yet, at the height of his cinematic dominance in the 1980s and 1990s, he also starred in several surprisingly great comedies. The standout film is Kindergarten Cop, which celebrates its 35-year mark this December.

The Film and That Line

In the classic film, Schwarzenegger embodies a undercover cop who masquerades as a schoolteacher to locate a fugitive. For much of the story, the procedural element functions as a loose framework for Schwarzenegger to share adorable interactions with kids. Arguably the most famous involves a little boy named Joseph, who spontaneously rises and declares the former bodybuilder, “Males have a penis, females have a vagina.” Arnold responds dryly, “Thank you for that information.”

The boy behind the line was portrayed by former young actor Miko Hughes. Beyond this role included a character arc on Full House playing the antagonist to the famous sisters and the haunting part of the child who returns in the film version of Stephen King’s Pet Sematary. He continues to act today, with multiple films in development. He also frequently attends the con circuit. Not long ago discussed his memories from the filming of the classic over three decades on.

Memories from the Set

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

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

That's remarkable, I can't remember being four. Do you have any memories from that time?

Yeah, a little bit. They're brief images. They're like mental photographs.

Do you recall how you got the part in Kindergarten Cop?

My mother, mainly would take me to auditions. Frequently it was an open call. There'd be a room full of young actors and we'd all simply wait around, go into the room, be in there less than five minutes, deliver a quick line they wanted and then leave. My parents would coach me on the dialogue and then, as soon as I could 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 incredibly nice. He was fun. He was nice, which I suppose stands to reason. It would be strange if he was mean to all the kids in the classroom, that surely wouldn't foster a positive atmosphere. He was a joy to have on set.

“It would have been odd 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 not actually watched his movies. I felt the importance — like, that's cool — but he wasn't scary to me. He was just fun and I only wanted to hang out 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 tense up and we'd be holding on. He was incredibly giving. He bought every kid in the classroom a personal stereo, which at the time was like an iPhone. This was the must-have gadget, that iconic bright yellow cassette player. I listened to the Power Rangers soundtrack and the Ninja Turtles soundtrack for a long time on that thing. It eventually broke. I also received a authentic coach's whistle. He had the coach whistle, and the kids all were gifted copies as well.

Do you remember your experience as being fun?

You know, it's interesting, that movie is such a landmark. It was such a big movie, and it was a wonderful time, and you would think, in retrospect, I would want my memories to be of working with Arnold, the direction of Ivan Reitman, the location shoot, seeing the 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 hot thing, and I was proficient. I was the smallest kid and some of the older kids would ask for my help to pass certain levels on games because I knew how, and I was quite pleased with myself. So, it's all little kid memories.

That Famous Quote

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

At the time, I probably didn't know what the word shocking meant, but I understood it was edgy and it made adults laugh. I was aware it was kind of something I wouldn't usually utter, but I was given an exception in this case because it was comedic.

“It was a difficult decision for her.”

How it originated, according to family lore, was they were still developing characters. 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 developed it during shooting and, reportedly the filmmakers came to my mom and said, "We're thinking. We want Miko to say this. Are you okay with this?" My mom didn't answer immediately. She said, "Give me a moment, I need time" and took some time. She really wrestled with it. She said she was hesitant, but she thought it could end up as one of the most memorable lines from the movie and history proved her correct.