I Am the ‘Penis and Vagina’ Kid from the Arnold Schwarzenegger Comedy: A Look Back.

The Austrian Oak is best known as an action movie legend. However, in the midst of his cinematic dominance in the 1980s and 1990s, he also starred in several surprisingly great comedies. Chief among them is Kindergarten Cop, which hits its three-and-a-half decade milestone this winter.

The Film and An Iconic Moment

In the 1990 movie, Schwarzenegger portrays a tough police officer who goes undercover as a elementary educator to locate a fugitive. For much of the movie, the procedural element serves as a basic structure for the star to have charming moments with his young class. The most unforgettable involves a little boy named Joseph, who unprompted stands up and declares the actor, “Boys have a penis, girls have a vagina.” Schwarzenegger responds dryly, “Thanks for the tip.”

The young actor was brought to life by child star Miko Hughes. Beyond this role included a notable part on Full House as the schoolyard menace 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 multiple films on the horizon. Furthermore, he frequently attends the con circuit. Recently recalled his memories from the filming of the classic 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 smallest of all the kids on set.

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

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

Do you recall how you were cast in Kindergarten Cop?

My mother, mainly would bring me to auditions. Often it was a mass tryout. There'd be 20, 30 kids and we'd all just have to wait, go into the room, be in there for a very short time, do whatever little line they wanted and then leave. My parents would coach me on the dialogue and then, as soon as I could read, that was the initial content I was reading.

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

He was very kind. He was enjoyable. He was nice, which arguably makes sense. It'd be weird if he was a dick to all the kids in the classroom, that probably wouldn't make for a productive set. He was a joy to have on set.

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

I was aware he was a big action 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 frighten me. He was simply playful and I was eager to interact with him when he wasn't busy. He was working hard, but he'd sometimes engage here and there, and we would dangle from his limbs. He'd flex 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 the hottest tech. It was the hottest tech out there, that iconic bright yellow cassette player. I played the Power Rangers soundtrack and the Ninja Turtles soundtrack for ages on that thing. It eventually broke. I also received a real silver whistle. He had the teacher's whistle, and the kids all got a whistle as well.

Do you remember your experience as being fun?

You know, it's amusing, that movie was this cultural thing. It was such a big movie, and it was such an amazing experience, and you would think, looking back now, I would want my memories to be of working with Arnold, the legendary director, the location shoot, the production design, but my memories are of being a finitely child at lunch. Like, they got everyone pizza, but I avoided pizza. All I would eat was the pepperoni off the top. Then, the original Game Boy was new. That was the coolest toy, and I was pretty good at it. I was the smallest kid and some of the bigger kids would bring me their Game Boys to get past hard parts on games because I was able to, and I was quite pleased with myself. So, it's all childhood recollections.

The Line

OK, that specific dialogue, do you remember the context? Did you know what you were saying?

At the time, I likely didn't understand what the word provocative meant, but I knew it was provocative and it got a big laugh. 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 humorous.

“She really wrestled with it.”

How it originated, from what I understand, was they didn't have specific roles. Certain bits of dialogue were part of the original screenplay, but once they had the entire ensemble assembled, it was more of a collaboration, but they worked on it while filming and, I suppose someone in charge came to my mom and said, "There's a concept. We want Miko to say this. Are you okay with this?" My mom didn't agree right away. She said, "Let me think about it, let me sleep on it" and took a short while. She really wrestled with it. She said she wasn't sure, but she believed it will probably be one of the unforgettable moments from the movie and she was right.