🔗 Share this article I Was the ‘Boys Have a Penis’ Kid from Kindergarten Cop: A Candid Conversation. The action icon is universally recognized as an iconic tough guy. However, in the midst of his cinematic dominance in the eighties and nineties, he also starred in several genuinely hilarious comedies. The standout film is Kindergarten Cop, which hits its 35-year mark this December. The Film and That Line In the hit comedy, Schwarzenegger embodies a hardened detective who goes undercover as a elementary educator to track down a criminal. During the film's runtime, the procedural element acts as a basic structure for the star to share adorable scenes with children. Arguably the most famous features a student named Joseph, who spontaneously stands up and declares the former bodybuilder, “Boys have a penis, females have a vagina.” Arnold deadpans, “Thank you for that information.” The young actor was portrayed by former young actor Miko Hughes. Beyond this role featured a recurring role on Full House as the schoolyard menace to the famous sisters and the character of the child who returns in the screen translation of Stephen King’s Pet Sematary. He still works in film today, with multiple films in development. Additionally, he frequently attends popular culture events. Not long ago discussed his recollections from the set of Kindergarten Cop over three decades on. A Young Actor's Perspective Question: Starting off, how old were you when you filmed Kindergarten Cop? Miko Hughes: My understanding is I was four. I was the youngest of all the kids on set. That's remarkable, I have no memory from being four. Do you remember anything from that time? Yeah, somewhat. They're brief images. They're like mental photographs. Do you recall how you got the part in Kindergarten Cop? My parents, primarily my mom would accompany me to auditions. Sometimes it was an open call. There'd be 20, 30 kids and we'd all simply wait around, enter the casting office, be in there briefly, deliver a quick line they wanted and then leave. My parents would help me learn the words and then, when I became literate, that was the initial content I was reading. Do you have an impression of meeting Arnold? What was your impression of him? He was incredibly nice. He was enjoyable. He was good-natured, which arguably isn't too surprising. 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 fun to be around. “It'd be weird if he was a dick to all the kids in the classroom.” I knew he was a huge celebrity because I was told, but I had barely seen his movies. I knew the air around him — 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 working hard, but he'd sometimes engage here and there, and we would hang off of his arms. He'd tense up and we'd be hanging off. He was really, really generous. He bought every kid in the classroom a personal stereo, which at the time was like an iPhone. That was the must-have gadget, that iconic bright yellow cassette player. I listened to the Power Rangers soundtrack and the Ninja Turtles soundtrack for years on that thing on that thing. It eventually broke. I also have a authentic coach's whistle. He had the teacher's whistle, and the kids all got a whistle as well. Do you remember your time filming as being fun? You know, it's interesting, that movie was this cultural thing. It was a huge film, and it was a wonderful time, and you would think, as an adult, I would want my memories to be of collaborating with Schwarzenegger, 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 didn't even like pizza. 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 other children would bring me their Game Boys to get past hard parts on games because I could do it, and I was quite pleased with myself. So, it's all childhood recollections. The Line OK, that specific dialogue, do you remember how it happened? Did you know what you were saying? At the time, I probably didn't know what the word taboo meant, but I realized it got a reaction and it caused the crew to chuckle. I knew it was kind of something I wasn't supposed to do, but I was given an exception in this case because it was humorous. “It was a difficult decision for her.” How it originated, according to family lore, was they hadn't finalized all the dialogue. Certain bits of dialogue were written into the script, but once they had the entire ensemble assembled, it was more of a collaboration, but they refined it on set and, reportedly it's either the director or producers 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 answer immediately. She said, "Give me a moment, let me sleep on it" and took some time. It was a tough call for her. She said she had doubts, but she thought it will probably be one of the most memorable lines from the movie and she was right.
The action icon is universally recognized as an iconic tough guy. However, in the midst of his cinematic dominance in the eighties and nineties, he also starred in several genuinely hilarious comedies. The standout film is Kindergarten Cop, which hits its 35-year mark this December. The Film and That Line In the hit comedy, Schwarzenegger embodies a hardened detective who goes undercover as a elementary educator to track down a criminal. During the film's runtime, the procedural element acts as a basic structure for the star to share adorable scenes with children. Arguably the most famous features a student named Joseph, who spontaneously stands up and declares the former bodybuilder, “Boys have a penis, females have a vagina.” Arnold deadpans, “Thank you for that information.” The young actor was portrayed by former young actor Miko Hughes. Beyond this role featured a recurring role on Full House as the schoolyard menace to the famous sisters and the character of the child who returns in the screen translation of Stephen King’s Pet Sematary. He still works in film today, with multiple films in development. Additionally, he frequently attends popular culture events. Not long ago discussed his recollections from the set of Kindergarten Cop over three decades on. A Young Actor's Perspective Question: Starting off, how old were you when you filmed Kindergarten Cop? Miko Hughes: My understanding is I was four. I was the youngest of all the kids on set. That's remarkable, I have no memory from being four. Do you remember anything from that time? Yeah, somewhat. They're brief images. They're like mental photographs. Do you recall how you got the part in Kindergarten Cop? My parents, primarily my mom would accompany me to auditions. Sometimes it was an open call. There'd be 20, 30 kids and we'd all simply wait around, enter the casting office, be in there briefly, deliver a quick line they wanted and then leave. My parents would help me learn the words and then, when I became literate, that was the initial content I was reading. Do you have an impression of meeting Arnold? What was your impression of him? He was incredibly nice. He was enjoyable. He was good-natured, which arguably isn't too surprising. 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 fun to be around. “It'd be weird if he was a dick to all the kids in the classroom.” I knew he was a huge celebrity because I was told, but I had barely seen his movies. I knew the air around him — 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 working hard, but he'd sometimes engage here and there, and we would hang off of his arms. He'd tense up and we'd be hanging off. He was really, really generous. He bought every kid in the classroom a personal stereo, which at the time was like an iPhone. That was the must-have gadget, that iconic bright yellow cassette player. I listened to the Power Rangers soundtrack and the Ninja Turtles soundtrack for years on that thing on that thing. It eventually broke. I also have a authentic coach's whistle. He had the teacher's whistle, and the kids all got a whistle as well. Do you remember your time filming as being fun? You know, it's interesting, that movie was this cultural thing. It was a huge film, and it was a wonderful time, and you would think, as an adult, I would want my memories to be of collaborating with Schwarzenegger, 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 didn't even like pizza. 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 other children would bring me their Game Boys to get past hard parts on games because I could do it, and I was quite pleased with myself. So, it's all childhood recollections. The Line OK, that specific dialogue, do you remember how it happened? Did you know what you were saying? At the time, I probably didn't know what the word taboo meant, but I realized it got a reaction and it caused the crew to chuckle. I knew it was kind of something I wasn't supposed to do, but I was given an exception in this case because it was humorous. “It was a difficult decision for her.” How it originated, according to family lore, was they hadn't finalized all the dialogue. Certain bits of dialogue were written into the script, but once they had the entire ensemble assembled, it was more of a collaboration, but they refined it on set and, reportedly it's either the director or producers 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 answer immediately. She said, "Give me a moment, let me sleep on it" and took some time. It was a tough call for her. She said she had doubts, but she thought it will probably be one of the most memorable lines from the movie and she was right.