I'm Known As the ‘Penis and Vagina’ Kid from Kindergarten Cop: A Candid Conversation.

The Austrian Oak is rightfully celebrated as an Hollywood heavyweight. Yet, at the height of his cinematic dominance in the late 20th century, he also starred in several surprisingly great comedies. Chief among them is Kindergarten Cop, which celebrates its 35-year mark this winter.

The Film and An Iconic Moment

In the classic film, Schwarzenegger embodies a tough police officer who poses as a schoolteacher to locate a fugitive. Throughout the film's runtime, the investigation plot functions as a loose framework for Schwarzenegger to share adorable interactions with kids. Without a doubt the standout involves a student named Joseph, who unprompted stands up and declares the former bodybuilder, “Males have a penis, and girls get a vagina.” Arnold replies icily, “Thanks for the tip.”

That iconic child was played by former young actor Miko Hughes. In addition to this part encompassed a recurring role on Full House as the schoolyard menace to the famous sisters and the pivotal role of the youngster who comes back in the film version of Stephen King’s Pet Sematary. He continues to act today, with several projects on the horizon. Furthermore, he frequently attends the con circuit. He recently recalled his experiences from the set of Kindergarten Cop over three decades on.

A Young Actor's Perspective

Q: To begin, 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 don't recall being four. Do you have any memories from that time?

Yeah, to a degree. They're brief images. They're like visual recollections.

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

My mother, mainly would take me to auditions. Frequently it was a mass tryout. There'd be 20, 30 kids and we'd all patiently queue, 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, once I learned to read, that was probably the first stuff I was reading.

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

He was very kind. He was playful. He was good-natured, which I guess stands to reason. It would have been odd if he was a dick to all the kids in the classroom, that surely wouldn't foster a productive set. He was great to work with.

“It would have been odd if he was unpleasant to all the kids in the classroom.”

I was aware he was a huge celebrity because I was told, but I had barely seen his movies. I knew the air around him — it was exciting — but he wasn't scary to me. He was merely entertaining and I only wanted to hang out with him when he wasn't busy. He was working hard, but he'd occasionally joke around here and there, and we would cling to his muscles. He'd flex and we'd be hanging off. He was really, really generous. He gifted all the students in the classroom a Sony Walkman, which at the time was the hottest tech. That was the hottest tech out there, that funky old yellow cassette player. I played the Power Rangers soundtrack and the Ninja Turtles soundtrack for years on that thing on that thing. It wore out in time. I also received 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 enjoyable?

You know, it's interesting, that movie was this cultural thing. It was such a big movie, 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 really picky eater at lunch. For example, they got everyone pizza, but I avoided pizza. All I would eat was the toppings only. Then, the original Game Boy was brand new. That was the big craze, and I was pretty good at it. I was the youngest and some of the bigger kids would hand me their devices to beat difficult stages on games because I knew how, and I was felt accomplished. So, it's all childhood recollections.

The Line

OK, that specific dialogue, 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 understood it was edgy and it made adults laugh. I was aware it was kind of something I shouldn't normally say, but I was given approval in this case because it was humorous.

“She really wrestled with it.”

How it originated, according to family lore, was they were still developing characters. A few scenes were written into the script, but once they had the entire ensemble assembled, it wasn't necessarily improv, 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 say this. Are you okay with this?" My mom paused. She said, "I need to consider this, I need time" and took a day or two. She deliberated carefully. She said she was hesitant, but she thought it would likely become one of the iconic quotes from the movie and she was right.