I Am the ‘Penis and Vagina’ Kid from Kindergarten Cop: A Candid Conversation.

The action icon is best known as an Hollywood heavyweight. But, during the peak of his cinematic dominance in the eighties and nineties, he also delivered several surprisingly great comedies. The standout film is Kindergarten Cop, which marks its 35th anniversary this December.

The Role and That Line

In the hit comedy, Schwarzenegger plays a tough police officer who goes undercover as a kindergarten teacher to locate a fugitive. For much of the movie, the investigation plot acts as a loose framework for the star to have charming moments with his young class. The most unforgettable belongs to a little boy named Joseph, who unprompted stands up and declares the actor, “Males have a penis, girls have a vagina.” Arnold deadpans, “Thank you for that information.”

The young actor was played by former young actor Miko Hughes. Beyond this role featured a notable part on Full House as the schoolyard menace to the Olsen twins and the haunting part of the child who returns in the film version of Stephen King’s Pet Sematary. Hughes remains active today, with a slate of movies listed on his IMDb. Additionally, he is a regular on fan conventions. Not long ago discussed his experiences from the set of Kindergarten Cop over three decades on.

Memories from the Set

Interviewer: First, how old were you when you filmed Kindergarten Cop?

Miko Hughes: My understanding is I was four. I was the smallest of all the kids on set.

That's impressive, I can't remember being four. Do you retain any flashes 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 family, especially my mother would accompany me to auditions. Sometimes it was an open call. There'd be 20, 30 kids and we'd all simply wait around, be seen, be in there for a very short time, deliver a quick line they wanted and that's all. My parents would feed me the lines and then, once I learned to read, that was some of the first material I was reading.

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

He was extremely gentle. He was playful. He was pleasant, which I suppose isn't too surprising. It would have been odd if he was mean to all the kids in the classroom, that surely wouldn't foster a productive set. He was fun to be around.

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

I understood he was a huge celebrity because my family informed me, but I had barely seen his movies. I felt the importance — like, that's cool — but he didn't really intimidate me. He was simply playful and I just wanted to play with him when he had time. He was busy, obviously, but he'd kind of play with us here and there, and we would dangle from his limbs. He'd show his strength and we'd be holding on. He was really, really generous. He purchased for each child in the classroom a yellow cassette player, which at the time was like an iPhone. This was the must-have gadget, that iconic bright yellow cassette player. I listened to the Power Rangers soundtrack and the Ninja Turtles soundtrack for a long time on that thing. It eventually broke. I also was given a authentic coach's whistle. He had the coach whistle, and the kids all got a whistle as well.

Do you remember your days on set as being positive?

You know, it's interesting, that movie was this cultural thing. It was a huge film, and it was an incredible opportunity, and you would think, looking back now, I would want my memories to be of working with Arnold, the direction of Ivan Reitman, traveling to Oregon, the production design, but my memories are of being a finitely child at lunch. For example, they got everyone pizza, but I wasn't a pizza fan. All I would eat was the toppings only. Then, the original Game Boy was new. That was the coolest toy, and I was pretty good at it. I was the youngest and some of the bigger kids would hand me their devices to get past hard parts on games because I was able to, and I was quite pleased with myself. So, it's all little kid memories.

The Infamous Moment

OK, the infamous quote, do you remember how it happened? Did you understand the words?

At the time, I probably didn't know what the word shocking meant, but I knew it was provocative and it caused the crew to chuckle. 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 comedic.

“She really wrestled with it.”

How it originated, from what I understand, was they didn't have specific roles. Some character lines were written into the script, but once they had the whole cast on the set, it wasn't necessarily improv, but they developed it during shooting and, I suppose someone in charge came to my mom and said, "We're thinking. We want Miko to have this line. Are you okay with this?" My mom didn't answer immediately. She said, "Let me think about it, I'll decide tomorrow" and took a day or two. She really wrestled with it. She said she was hesitant, but she felt it will probably be one of the iconic quotes from the movie and she was right.