I'm Known As the ‘Penis and Vagina’ Kid from Kindergarten Cop: An Interview.

Arnold Schwarzenegger is best known as an Hollywood heavyweight. But, at the height of his star power in the 1980s and 1990s, he also headlined several critically acclaimed comedies. Chief among them is Kindergarten Cop, which celebrates its 35th anniversary this holiday season.

The Role and That Line

In the hit comedy, Schwarzenegger embodies a hardened detective who masquerades as a schoolteacher to locate a fugitive. Throughout the movie, the investigation plot functions as a simple backdrop for Arnold to share adorable moments with his young class. Arguably the most famous involves a student named Joseph, who spontaneously announces and states the former bodybuilder, “It's boys who have a penis, and girls get a vagina.” Arnold deadpans, “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 resurrected boy in the 1989 adaptation of Stephen King’s Pet Sematary. Hughes remains active today, with a slate of movies listed on his IMDb. He also is a regular on fan conventions. He recently shared his experiences from the production after all this time.

Behind the Scenes

Q: To begin, how old were you when you filmed Kindergarten Cop?

Miko Hughes: I believe I was four. I was the youngest of all the kids on set.

That's remarkable, I don't recall being four. Do you remember anything from that time?

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

Do you recall how you got the part in Kindergarten Cop?

My parents, primarily my mom would accompany me to auditions. Often it was a mass tryout. There'd be dozens of children and we'd all patiently queue, be seen, be in there less than five minutes, do whatever little line 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 take on him?

He was incredibly nice. He was fun. He was good-natured, which arguably makes sense. It would be strange if he was unpleasant to all the kids in the classroom, that surely wouldn't foster a positive atmosphere. He was great to work with.

“It would have been odd if he was mean 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 sensed the excitement — like, that's cool — but he wasn't scary to me. He was simply playful and I only wanted to hang out with him when he was available. He was occupied, of course, but he'd occasionally joke around here and there, and we would hang off of his arms. He'd flex and we'd be dangling there. He was exceptionally kind. He gifted all the students in the classroom a Sony Walkman, which at the time was a major status symbol. That was the must-have gadget, that distinctive classic yellow cassette player. I listened to the Power Rangers soundtrack and the Ninja Turtles soundtrack for a long time on that thing. It finally gave out. I also was given a real silver whistle. He had the referee's whistle, and the kids all were gifted copies as well.

Do you remember your days on set as being fun?

You know, it's interesting, that movie is such a landmark. It was a major production, and it was a wonderful time, and you would think, looking back now, 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 really picky eater at lunch. For instance, they got everyone pizza, but I avoided pizza. All I would eat was the pepperoni off the top. Then, the first-generation Game Boy was new. That was the hot thing, and I was proficient. I was the smallest kid and some of the bigger kids would hand me their devices to pass certain levels on games because I could do it, and I was felt accomplished. So, it's all youthful anecdotes.

The Line

OK, the penis and vagina line, do you remember the context? Did you grasp the meaning?

At the time, I wasn't fully aware of what the word taboo meant, but I understood it was edgy and it got a big laugh. I understood it was kind of something I shouldn't normally say, but I was given an exception in this case because it was humorous.

“She really wrestled with it.”

How it came about, based on what I was told, was they hadn't finalized all the dialogue. Certain bits of dialogue were part of the original screenplay, 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, "We have an idea. We want Miko to have this line. Are you okay with this?" My mom paused. She said, "Let me think about it, I need time" and took a day or two. She deliberated carefully. She said she had doubts, but she felt it will probably be one of the iconic quotes from the movie and she was right.