I Was the ‘Penis and Vagina’ Kid from the Arnold Schwarzenegger Comedy: An Interview.

The Austrian Oak is universally recognized as an iconic tough guy. Yet, at the height of his cinematic dominance in the eighties and nineties, he also starred in several surprisingly great comedies. Chief among them is Kindergarten Cop, which celebrates its 35th anniversary this winter.

The Role and That Line

In the 1990 movie, Schwarzenegger plays a undercover cop who masquerades as a elementary educator to track down a criminal. For much of the film's runtime, the crime storyline serves as a basic structure for the star to share adorable moments with his young class. The most unforgettable involves a little boy named Joseph, who unprompted announces and informs the stoic star, “Males have a penis, and girls get a vagina.” Arnold deadpans, “I appreciate the insight.”

The boy behind the line was brought to life by youth performer Miko Hughes. In addition to this part encompassed a notable part on Full House playing the antagonist to the famous sisters and the pivotal role of the child who returns in the film version of Stephen King’s Pet Sematary. He still works in film today, with several projects on the horizon. He also frequently attends popular culture events. He recently discussed his memories from the filming of the classic after all this time.

A Young Actor's Perspective

Interviewer: First, how old were you when you filmed Kindergarten Cop?

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

Wow, I can't remember being four. Do you retain any flashes from that time?

Yeah, somewhat. They're flashes. They're like picture memories.

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

My family, especially my mother would take me to auditions. Sometimes it was like a cattle call. There'd be dozens of children and we'd all simply wait around, be seen, be in there for a very short time, deliver a quick line they wanted and that was it. My parents would feed me the lines and then, when I became literate, that was some of the first material I was reading.

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

He was extremely gentle. He was playful. He was pleasant, which I guess makes sense. It would be strange if he was unpleasant to all the kids in the classroom, that surely wouldn't foster a good work environment. He was a joy to have on set.

“It would be strange if he was a dick to all the kids in the classroom.”

I knew he was a major movie star because I was told, but I had never really seen his movies. I felt the importance — like, that's cool — but he wasn't scary to me. He was merely entertaining and I just wanted to play with him when he had time. He was busy, obviously, but he'd kind of play with us here and there, and we would cling to his muscles. He'd tense up and we'd be dangling there. He was exceptionally kind. He purchased for each child in the classroom a personal stereo, which at the time was the hottest tech. That was the coolest device, 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 eventually broke. I also received a real silver whistle. He had the teacher's whistle, and the kids all were gifted copies as well.

Do you remember your experience as being enjoyable?

You know, it's amusing, that movie was this cultural thing. 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 working with Arnold, working with [director] Ivan Reitman, traveling to Oregon, seeing the set, but my memories are of being a finitely child at lunch. For instance, they got everyone pizza, but I wasn't a pizza fan. All I would eat was the toppings only. Then, the Nintendo Game Boy was new. That was the big craze, and I was proficient. I was the youngest and some of the older kids would bring me their Game Boys to beat difficult stages on games because I knew how, and I was felt accomplished. So, it's all little kid memories.

The Infamous Moment

OK, that specific dialogue, do you remember the context? Did you know what you were saying?

At the time, I probably didn't know what the word shocking meant, but I knew it was provocative and it caused the crew to chuckle. I knew it was kind of something I shouldn't normally say, but I was given an exception in this case because it was funny.

“It was a difficult decision for her.”

How it was conceived, according to family lore, was they were still developing characters. Certain bits of dialogue were established early on, but once they had the whole cast on the set, it wasn't pure improvisation, but they developed it during shooting and, I suppose the filmmakers came to my mom and said, "We're thinking. We want Miko to have this line. Are you okay with this?" My mom didn't agree right away. She said, "I need to consider this, I need time" and took a day or two. It was a tough call for her. She said she was hesitant, but she believed it will probably be one of the most memorable lines from the movie and history proved her correct.