I Am the ‘Boys Have a Penis’ Kid from the Classic 1990 Film: A Look Back.

The Austrian Oak is best known as an iconic tough guy. However, at the height of his cinematic dominance in the 1980s and 1990s, he also delivered several genuinely hilarious comedies. Chief among them is Kindergarten Cop, which marks its three-and-a-half decade milestone this December.

The Film and The Famous Scene

In the classic film, Schwarzenegger portrays a tough police officer who poses as a elementary educator to catch a killer. During the movie, the procedural element functions as a basic structure for Schwarzenegger to have charming moments with his young class. Arguably the most famous involves a student named Joseph, who out of nowhere stands up and states the actor, “It's boys who have a penis, females have a vagina.” The Terminator deadpans, “Thank you for that information.”

The boy behind the line was brought to life by child star Miko Hughes. Beyond this role encompassed a character arc on Full House as the schoolyard menace to the Olsen twins and the haunting part of the child who returns in the 1989 adaptation of Stephen King’s Pet Sematary. He continues to act today, with multiple films in development. Additionally, he frequently attends the con circuit. He recently recalled his recollections from the set of Kindergarten Cop after all this time.

Memories from the Set

Q: To begin, 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, a little bit. They're brief images. They're like mental photographs.

Do you recall how you landed the job in Kindergarten Cop?

My mother, mainly would accompany me to auditions. Sometimes 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 for a very short time, read a small part they wanted and then leave. My parents would feed me the lines 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 feeling about him?

He was incredibly nice. He was enjoyable. He was pleasant, which arguably isn't too surprising. It'd be weird if he was a dick to all the kids in the classroom, that surely wouldn't foster a productive set. He was fun to be around.

“It'd be weird if he was unpleasant to all the kids in the classroom.”

I knew he was a major movie star because my family informed me, but I had barely seen his movies. I felt the importance — it was exciting — but he didn't frighten me. He was simply playful and I only wanted to hang out with him when he wasn't busy. He was occupied, of course, but he'd sometimes engage here and there, and we would dangle from his limbs. He'd tense up and we'd be holding on. He was really, really generous. He gifted all the students in the classroom a personal stereo, which at the time was like an iPhone. It was the must-have gadget, that iconic bright yellow cassette player. I listened to the Power Rangers soundtrack and the Ninja Turtles soundtrack for ages on that thing. It wore out in time. I also was given a real silver whistle. He had the coach whistle, and the kids all got a whistle as well.

Do you remember your experience as being fun?

You know, it's interesting, that movie became a phenomenon. It was such a big movie, 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 legendary director, visiting Astoria, 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 original Game Boy was just released. That was the big craze, and I was quite skilled. I was the smallest kid and some of the other children would ask for my help to pass certain levels on games because I was able to, and I was felt accomplished. So, it's all childhood recollections.

The Line

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 provocative meant, but I realized it got a reaction and it caused the crew to chuckle. I was aware it was kind of something I shouldn't normally say, but I was given approval in this case because it was funny.

“My mom thought hard about it.”

How it came about, from what I understand, was they hadn't finalized all the dialogue. A few scenes were written into the script, but once they had the whole cast on the set, it was more of a collaboration, but they refined it on set and, I suppose the filmmakers 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, "Give me a moment, let me sleep on it" and took some time. She really wrestled with it. She said she was hesitant, but she thought it would likely become one of the most memorable lines from the movie and she was right.