I Am the ‘Penis and Vagina’ Kid from Kindergarten Cop: An Interview.

Arnold Schwarzenegger is universally recognized as an Hollywood heavyweight. Yet, in the midst of his star power in the late 20th century, he also starred in several surprisingly great comedies. Chief among them is Kindergarten Cop, which celebrates its three-and-a-half decade milestone this December.

The Role and An Iconic Moment

In the classic film, Schwarzenegger embodies a tough police officer who poses as a kindergarten teacher to catch a killer. Throughout the movie, the crime storyline functions as a basic structure for the star to share adorable scenes with children. Arguably the most famous belongs to a child named Joseph, who unprompted rises and states the stoic star, “Males have a penis, girls have a vagina.” Schwarzenegger replies icily, “Thank you for that information.”

That iconic child was played by youth performer Miko Hughes. In addition to this part featured a notable part on Full House playing the antagonist to the child stars and the haunting part of the youngster who comes back in the 1989 adaptation of Stephen King’s Pet Sematary. Hughes remains active today, with multiple films listed on his IMDb. Furthermore, he is a regular on fan conventions. He recently recalled his recollections from the set of Kindergarten Cop after all this time.

Behind the Scenes

Question: Starting off, how old were you when you filmed Kindergarten Cop?

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

Wow, I have no memory from being four. Do you have any memories from that time?

Yeah, somewhat. They're snapshots. They're like visual recollections.

Do you recall how you were cast in Kindergarten Cop?

My mother, mainly would bring me to auditions. Sometimes it was a mass tryout. There'd be 20, 30 kids and we'd all simply wait around, be seen, be in there for a very short time, do whatever little line they wanted and that's all. My parents would feed me the lines and then, as soon as I could read, that was some of the first material I was reading.

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

He was incredibly nice. He was enjoyable. He was good-natured, which arguably isn't too surprising. It would be strange if he was mean to all the kids in the classroom, that likely wouldn't create 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 that's what my parents told me, but I had not actually watched his movies. I knew the air around him — he was a big deal — but he wasn't scary to me. He was merely entertaining and I only wanted to hang out with him when he had time. He was busy, obviously, but he'd sometimes engage here and there, and we would dangle from his limbs. He'd show his strength and we'd be hanging off. He was really, really generous. He purchased for each child in the classroom a Sony Walkman, which at the time was a major status symbol. It was the coolest device, 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 finally gave out. I also received a genuine metal whistle. He had the coach whistle, and the kids all received one too as well.

Do you remember your experience as being fun?

You know, it's funny, that movie is such a landmark. It was such a big movie, and it was a wonderful time, and you would think, in retrospect, I would want my memories to be of collaborating with Schwarzenegger, the direction of Ivan Reitman, visiting Astoria, the production design, but my memories are of being a selective diner at lunch. Like, they got everyone pizza, but I didn't even like pizza. All I would eat was the pepperoni off the top. 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 ask for my help to beat difficult stages on games because I was able to, and I was really proud of that. So, it's all little kid memories.

The Infamous Moment

OK, the infamous quote, do you remember the context? Did you know what you were saying?

At the time, I likely didn't understand what the word taboo meant, but I realized it got a reaction and it caused the crew to chuckle. I understood it was kind of something I shouldn't normally say, but I was given approval in this case because it was funny.

“It was a difficult decision for her.”

How it was conceived, based on what I was told, was they didn't have specific roles. Some character lines were part of the original screenplay, but once they had the entire ensemble assembled, it wasn't pure improvisation, but they worked on it while filming and, presumably someone in charge 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, "I need to consider this, I'll decide tomorrow" and took a day or two. She really wrestled with it. She said she was hesitant, but she thought it will probably be one of the iconic quotes from the movie and history proved her correct.