I Was the ‘Penis and Vagina’ Kid from the Classic 1990 Film: An Interview.

The Austrian Oak is best known as an action movie legend. However, in the midst of his star power in the 1980s and 1990s, he also headlined several critically acclaimed comedies. The standout film is Kindergarten Cop, which celebrates its 35-year mark this holiday season.

The Role and The Famous Scene

In the 1990 movie, Schwarzenegger embodies a undercover cop who goes undercover as a elementary educator to locate a fugitive. For much of the story, the investigation plot serves as a basic structure for the star to share adorable moments with his young class. Without a doubt the standout involves a little boy named Joseph, who spontaneously announces and states the former bodybuilder, “It's boys who have a penis, girls have a vagina.” The Terminator deadpans, “I appreciate the insight.”

That iconic child was portrayed by child star Miko Hughes. In addition to this part featured a character arc on Full House as the schoolyard menace to the child stars and the pivotal role of the child who returns in the screen translation of Stephen King’s Pet Sematary. He still works in film today, with a slate of movies in development. Additionally, he frequently attends fan conventions. He recently shared his experiences from the set of Kindergarten Cop 35 years later.

Memories from the Set

Interviewer: First, 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 impressive, 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 picture memories.

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

My family, especially my mother would bring me to auditions. Often it was like a cattle call. There'd be 20, 30 kids and we'd all just have to wait, go into the room, be in there less than five minutes, deliver a quick line they wanted and that's all. My parents would feed me the lines and then, when I became literate, 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 incredibly nice. He was fun. He was pleasant, which I guess makes sense. 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 a dick to all the kids in the classroom.”

I was aware he was a huge celebrity because my family informed me, but I had never really seen his movies. I felt the importance — he was a big deal — but he didn't frighten me. He was merely entertaining and I was eager to interact with him when he wasn't busy. He was occupied, of course, but he'd kind of play with us here and there, and we would dangle from his limbs. He'd flex 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. This was the hottest tech out there, that distinctive classic yellow cassette player. I played the Power Rangers soundtrack and the Ninja Turtles soundtrack for ages on that thing. It finally gave out. I also was given a authentic coach's whistle. He had the referee's whistle, and the kids all received one too as well.

Do you remember your time filming as being positive?

You know, it's amusing, that movie was this cultural thing. It was a major production, and it was such an amazing experience, and you would think, looking back now, I would want my memories to be of the star himself, working with [director] Ivan Reitman, traveling to Oregon, being on a professional set, but my memories are of being a finitely child at lunch. For example, they got everyone pizza, but I avoided pizza. All I would eat was the toppings only. Then, the first-generation Game Boy was brand new. That was the coolest toy, and I was proficient. I was the smallest kid and some of the other children would hand me their devices to get past hard parts on games because I could do it, and I was felt accomplished. So, it's all youthful anecdotes.

The Line

OK, that specific dialogue, do you remember how it happened? Did you grasp the meaning?

At the time, I likely didn't understand what the word shocking meant, but I understood it was edgy and it got a big laugh. I was aware it was kind of something I wasn't supposed to do, but I was given special permission in this case because it was funny.

“My mom thought hard about it.”

How it was conceived, according to family lore, was they didn't have specific roles. A few scenes 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, "There's a concept. We want Miko to deliver this dialogue. Are you okay with this?" My mom didn't agree right away. She said, "Let me think about it, I need time" and took a day or two. She really wrestled with it. She said she was hesitant, but she thought it could end up as one of the iconic quotes from the movie and she was right.