I'm Known As the ‘Penis and Vagina’ Kid from the Arnold Schwarzenegger Comedy: An Interview.

The action icon is best known as an Hollywood heavyweight. But, in the midst of his cinematic dominance in the eighties and nineties, he also starred in several surprisingly great comedies. The standout film is Kindergarten Cop, which marks its three-and-a-half decade milestone this winter.

The Film and An Iconic Moment

In the hit comedy, Schwarzenegger portrays a undercover cop who poses as a schoolteacher to catch a killer. For much of the film's runtime, the crime storyline functions as a simple backdrop for the star to film humorous interactions with kids. Arguably the most famous features a child named Joseph, who unprompted announces and states the former bodybuilder, “Boys have a penis, females have a vagina.” Schwarzenegger responds dryly, “Thank you for that information.”

That iconic child was brought to life by child star Miko Hughes. Beyond this role featured a recurring role on Full House as the schoolyard menace to the child stars and the haunting part of the child who returns in the screen translation of Stephen King’s Pet Sematary. Hughes remains active today, with a slate of movies on the horizon. Furthermore, he is a regular on the con circuit. Not long ago discussed his memories from the production after all this time.

A Young Actor's Perspective

Interviewer: First, 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.

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

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

Do you recall how you were cast in Kindergarten Cop?

My family, especially my mother would bring me to auditions. Sometimes it was like a cattle call. There'd be a room full of young actors and we'd all just have to wait, be seen, be in there for a very short time, read a small part they wanted and that's all. My parents would feed me the lines and then, once I learned to read, that was the initial content I was reading.

Do you have an impression of meeting Arnold? What was your feeling about him?

He was incredibly nice. He was playful. He was nice, which arguably isn't too surprising. It would be strange if he was a dick to all the kids in the classroom, that surely wouldn't foster a good work environment. He was fun to be around.

“It would be strange if he was unpleasant to all the kids in the classroom.”

I knew he was a big action star because that's what my parents told me, but I had never really seen his movies. I felt the importance — like, that's cool — but he didn't really intimidate me. He was simply playful and I was eager to interact with him when he was available. He was busy, obviously, but he'd kind of play with us here and there, and we would hang off of his arms. He'd show his strength and we'd be holding on. He was really, really generous. He bought every kid in the classroom a Sony Walkman, which at the time was the hottest tech. This was the hottest tech out there, that iconic bright yellow cassette player. I used to rock out to the Power Rangers soundtrack and the Ninja Turtles soundtrack for years on that thing on that thing. It eventually broke. I also was given a real silver whistle. He had the coach whistle, and the kids all received one too as well.

Do you remember your experience as being positive?

You know, it's funny, that movie became a phenomenon. It was such a big movie, and it was such an amazing experience, and you would think, in retrospect, I would want my memories to be of collaborating with Schwarzenegger, the direction of Ivan Reitman, traveling to Oregon, seeing the set, but my memories are of being a selective diner at lunch. Like, they got everyone pizza, but I avoided pizza. All I would eat was the meat from the top. Then, the original Game Boy was new. That was the big craze, and I was quite skilled. I was the smallest kid and some of the bigger kids would hand me their devices to pass certain levels on games because I knew how, and I was really proud of that. So, it's all youthful anecdotes.

That Famous Quote

OK, that specific dialogue, do you remember anything about it? Did you know what you were saying?

At the time, I wasn't fully aware of what the word shocking meant, but I understood it was edgy and it caused the crew to chuckle. I knew it was kind of something I wouldn't usually utter, but I was given special permission in this case because it was funny.

“It was a difficult decision for her.”

How it came about, based on what I was told, was they were still developing characters. A few scenes were established early on, but once they had the whole cast on the set, it was more of a collaboration, but they worked on it while filming and, I suppose it's either the director or producers came to my mom and said, "We're thinking. We want Miko to say this. Are you okay with this?" My mom paused. She said, "Give me a moment, I need time" and took a day or two. She deliberated carefully. She said she had doubts, but she believed it will probably be one of the unforgettable moments from the movie and she was right.