🔗 Share this article I Was the ‘Boys Have a Penis’ Kid from the Classic 1990 Film: An Interview. Arnold Schwarzenegger is rightfully celebrated as an Hollywood heavyweight. Yet, in the midst of his cinematic dominance in the eighties and nineties, he also delivered several critically acclaimed comedies. Chief among them is Kindergarten Cop, which hits its 35th anniversary this December. The Story and The Famous Scene In the classic film, Schwarzenegger portrays a tough police officer who goes undercover as a elementary educator to locate a fugitive. For much of the film's runtime, the crime storyline acts as a basic structure for Arnold to film humorous scenes with children. Without a doubt the standout belongs to a student named Joseph, who out of nowhere rises and declares the former bodybuilder, “Boys have a penis, females have a vagina.” Arnold responds dryly, “I appreciate the insight.” The young actor was brought to life by former young actor Miko Hughes. Beyond this role encompassed a notable part on Full House playing the antagonist to the Olsen twins and the character of the child who returns in the film version of Stephen King’s Pet Sematary. He still works in film today, with several projects in development. He also engages with fans at popular culture events. Not long ago recalled his memories from the set of Kindergarten Cop after all this time. Behind the Scenes Question: Starting off, how old were you when you filmed Kindergarten Cop? Miko Hughes: I believe 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 remember anything from that time? Yeah, a little bit. They're flashes. They're like picture memories. Do you recall how you got the part in Kindergarten Cop? My mother, mainly would bring me to auditions. Often it was an open call. There'd be a room full of young actors and we'd all patiently queue, enter the casting office, be in there less than five minutes, read a small part they wanted and then leave. My parents would feed me the lines and then, as soon as I could read, that was probably the first stuff I was reading. Do you have a specific memory of meeting Arnold? What was your feeling about him? He was extremely gentle. He was enjoyable. He was good-natured, which I guess makes sense. It would have been odd if he was mean to all the kids in the classroom, that surely wouldn't foster a positive atmosphere. He was fun to be around. “It would be strange if he was a dick to all the kids in the classroom.” I knew he was a big action star because my family informed me, but I had not actually watched his movies. I sensed the excitement — like, that's cool — but he wasn't scary to me. He was just fun and I was eager to interact with him when he had time. He was occupied, of course, but he'd sometimes engage here and there, and we would dangle from his limbs. He'd flex and we'd be holding on. He was exceptionally kind. He purchased for each child in the classroom a yellow cassette player, which at the time was the hottest tech. This was the coolest device, that distinctive classic yellow cassette player. I played the Power Rangers soundtrack and the Ninja Turtles soundtrack for ages on that thing. It wore out in time. I also have a genuine metal whistle. He had the teacher's whistle, and the kids all were gifted copies as well. Do you remember your time filming as being fun? You know, it's amusing, that movie became a phenomenon. It was a major production, and it was such an amazing experience, and you would think, as an adult, I would want my memories to be of the star himself, the direction of Ivan Reitman, traveling to Oregon, the production design, 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 meat from the top. Then, the first-generation Game Boy was brand new. That was the big craze, and I was quite skilled. I was the youngest and some of the older kids would ask for my help to pass certain levels on games because I was able to, and I was really proud of that. So, it's all youthful anecdotes. That Famous Quote OK, the penis and vagina line, do you remember anything about it? Did you grasp the meaning? At the time, I probably didn't know what the word taboo meant, but I understood it was edgy and it got a big laugh. I knew it was kind of something I wouldn't usually utter, but I was given an exception in this case because it was funny. “She really wrestled with it.” How it originated, according to family lore, was they hadn't finalized all the dialogue. Some character lines were part of the original screenplay, but once they had the kids together, 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, "We have an idea. We want Miko to have this line. 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 a short while. It was a tough call for her. She said she had doubts, but she thought it will probably be one of the iconic quotes from the movie and history proved her correct.
Arnold Schwarzenegger is rightfully celebrated as an Hollywood heavyweight. Yet, in the midst of his cinematic dominance in the eighties and nineties, he also delivered several critically acclaimed comedies. Chief among them is Kindergarten Cop, which hits its 35th anniversary this December. The Story and The Famous Scene In the classic film, Schwarzenegger portrays a tough police officer who goes undercover as a elementary educator to locate a fugitive. For much of the film's runtime, the crime storyline acts as a basic structure for Arnold to film humorous scenes with children. Without a doubt the standout belongs to a student named Joseph, who out of nowhere rises and declares the former bodybuilder, “Boys have a penis, females have a vagina.” Arnold responds dryly, “I appreciate the insight.” The young actor was brought to life by former young actor Miko Hughes. Beyond this role encompassed a notable part on Full House playing the antagonist to the Olsen twins and the character of the child who returns in the film version of Stephen King’s Pet Sematary. He still works in film today, with several projects in development. He also engages with fans at popular culture events. Not long ago recalled his memories from the set of Kindergarten Cop after all this time. Behind the Scenes Question: Starting off, how old were you when you filmed Kindergarten Cop? Miko Hughes: I believe 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 remember anything from that time? Yeah, a little bit. They're flashes. They're like picture memories. Do you recall how you got the part in Kindergarten Cop? My mother, mainly would bring me to auditions. Often it was an open call. There'd be a room full of young actors and we'd all patiently queue, enter the casting office, be in there less than five minutes, read a small part they wanted and then leave. My parents would feed me the lines and then, as soon as I could read, that was probably the first stuff I was reading. Do you have a specific memory of meeting Arnold? What was your feeling about him? He was extremely gentle. He was enjoyable. He was good-natured, which I guess makes sense. It would have been odd if he was mean to all the kids in the classroom, that surely wouldn't foster a positive atmosphere. He was fun to be around. “It would be strange if he was a dick to all the kids in the classroom.” I knew he was a big action star because my family informed me, but I had not actually watched his movies. I sensed the excitement — like, that's cool — but he wasn't scary to me. He was just fun and I was eager to interact with him when he had time. He was occupied, of course, but he'd sometimes engage here and there, and we would dangle from his limbs. He'd flex and we'd be holding on. He was exceptionally kind. He purchased for each child in the classroom a yellow cassette player, which at the time was the hottest tech. This was the coolest device, that distinctive classic yellow cassette player. I played the Power Rangers soundtrack and the Ninja Turtles soundtrack for ages on that thing. It wore out in time. I also have a genuine metal whistle. He had the teacher's whistle, and the kids all were gifted copies as well. Do you remember your time filming as being fun? You know, it's amusing, that movie became a phenomenon. It was a major production, and it was such an amazing experience, and you would think, as an adult, I would want my memories to be of the star himself, the direction of Ivan Reitman, traveling to Oregon, the production design, 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 meat from the top. Then, the first-generation Game Boy was brand new. That was the big craze, and I was quite skilled. I was the youngest and some of the older kids would ask for my help to pass certain levels on games because I was able to, and I was really proud of that. So, it's all youthful anecdotes. That Famous Quote OK, the penis and vagina line, do you remember anything about it? Did you grasp the meaning? At the time, I probably didn't know what the word taboo meant, but I understood it was edgy and it got a big laugh. I knew it was kind of something I wouldn't usually utter, but I was given an exception in this case because it was funny. “She really wrestled with it.” How it originated, according to family lore, was they hadn't finalized all the dialogue. Some character lines were part of the original screenplay, but once they had the kids together, 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, "We have an idea. We want Miko to have this line. 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 a short while. It was a tough call for her. She said she had doubts, but she thought it will probably be one of the iconic quotes from the movie and history proved her correct.