I Am the ‘Penis and Vagina’ Kid from the Arnold Schwarzenegger Comedy: A Candid Conversation.

The Austrian Oak is rightfully celebrated as an Hollywood heavyweight. However, at the height of his blockbuster fame in the 1980s and 1990s, he also headlined several surprisingly great comedies. Chief among them is Kindergarten Cop, which celebrates its 35th anniversary this winter.

The Film and That Line

In the classic film, Schwarzenegger portrays a hardened detective who goes undercover as a elementary educator to track down a criminal. Throughout the film's runtime, the investigation plot serves as a simple backdrop for the star to have charming scenes with children. Without a doubt the standout involves a student named Joseph, who out of nowhere announces and states the actor, “Males have a penis, and girls get a vagina.” Arnold deadpans, “I appreciate the insight.”

That iconic child was played by former young actor Miko Hughes. Beyond this role encompassed a notable part on Full House playing the antagonist to the famous sisters and the character of the youngster who comes back in the screen translation of Stephen King’s Pet Sematary. He continues to act today, with several projects in development. He also is a regular on popular culture events. He recently recalled his memories from the filming of the classic 35 years later.

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 smallest of all the kids on set.

That's remarkable, I can't remember being four. Do you have any memories from that time?

Yeah, a little bit. They're snapshots. They're like mental photographs.

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

My parents, primarily my mom would accompany me to auditions. Often it was like a cattle call. There'd be 20, 30 kids and we'd all just have to wait, enter the casting office, be in there briefly, read a small part they wanted and that was it. My parents would help me learn the words 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 extremely gentle. He was playful. He was pleasant, which I suppose makes sense. It would have been odd if he was unpleasant to all the kids in the classroom, that probably wouldn't make for a good work environment. He was great to work with.

“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 never really seen his movies. I knew the air around him — it was exciting — but he didn't frighten me. He was merely entertaining and I just wanted to play with him when he was available. He was busy, obviously, but he'd occasionally joke around here and there, and we would cling to his muscles. He'd show his strength and we'd be dangling there. He was really, really generous. He purchased for each child in the classroom a Sony Walkman, which at the time was the hottest tech. It was the coolest device, that iconic bright yellow cassette player. I used to rock out to the Power Rangers soundtrack and the Ninja Turtles soundtrack for years on that thing on that thing. It eventually broke. I also received a authentic coach's whistle. He had the referee's whistle, and the kids all got a whistle 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 an incredible opportunity, and you would think, looking back now, I would want my memories to be of the star himself, working with [director] Ivan Reitman, the location shoot, being on a professional set, but my memories are of being a selective diner 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 first-generation Game Boy was just released. That was the big craze, and I was quite skilled. I was the youngest and some of the other children would bring me their Game Boys to get past hard parts on games because I was able to, and I was felt accomplished. So, it's all childhood recollections.

The Line

OK, that specific dialogue, do you remember anything about it? Did you grasp the meaning?

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 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 was conceived, from what I understand, 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 developed it during shooting and, reportedly the filmmakers came to my mom and said, "We're thinking. We want Miko to deliver this dialogue. Are you okay with this?" My mom didn't agree right away. She said, "I need to consider this, let me sleep on it" and took some time. She really wrestled with it. She said she wasn't sure, but she thought it will probably be one of the unforgettable moments from the movie and she was right.