I Was the ‘Penis and Vagina’ Kid from the Arnold Schwarzenegger Comedy: A Look Back.

Arnold Schwarzenegger is universally recognized as an iconic tough guy. However, at the height of his star power in the late 20th century, he also headlined several surprisingly great comedies. The standout film is Kindergarten Cop, which hits its 35-year mark this winter.

The Film and An Iconic Moment

In the 1990 movie, Schwarzenegger embodies a tough police officer who masquerades as a elementary educator to locate a fugitive. During the movie, the investigation plot acts as a basic structure for Arnold to film humorous moments with his young class. The most unforgettable belongs to a student named Joseph, who spontaneously announces and informs the former bodybuilder, “Males have a penis, females have a vagina.” Schwarzenegger deadpans, “I appreciate the insight.”

The young actor was played by child star Miko Hughes. In addition to this part included a character arc on Full House as the bully to the Olsen twins and the character of the child who returns in the 1989 adaptation of Stephen King’s Pet Sematary. He continues to act today, with several projects in development. Additionally, he is a regular on fan conventions. Not long ago discussed his recollections from the filming of the classic over three decades on.

Memories from the Set

Question: Starting off, 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.

Wow, I have no memory from being four. Do you remember anything from that time?

Yeah, to a degree. They're snapshots. They're like mental photographs.

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

My family, especially my mother would bring me to auditions. Sometimes it was a mass tryout. There'd be dozens of children and we'd all simply wait around, be seen, be in there briefly, deliver a quick line they wanted and then leave. My parents would coach me on the dialogue 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 playful. He was pleasant, which I suppose stands to reason. It would have been odd if he was unpleasant to all the kids in the classroom, that likely wouldn't create a good work environment. He was great to work with.

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

I understood he was a big action star because my family informed me, but I had not actually watched his movies. I sensed the excitement — it was exciting — but he didn't really intimidate me. He was just fun and I just wanted to play with him when he had time. He was occupied, of course, but he'd occasionally joke around here and there, and we would hang off of his arms. He'd tense up and we'd be hanging off. He was exceptionally kind. He purchased for each child in the classroom a yellow cassette player, which at the time was like an iPhone. This was the hottest tech out there, that funky old yellow cassette player. I played the Power Rangers soundtrack and the Ninja Turtles soundtrack for ages on that thing. It finally gave out. I also was given a real silver whistle. He had the coach whistle, and the kids all got a whistle as well.

Do you remember your time filming as being enjoyable?

You know, it's interesting, 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 collaborating with Schwarzenegger, the direction of Ivan Reitman, traveling to Oregon, the production design, but my memories are of being a finitely child at lunch. For example, they got everyone pizza, but I avoided pizza. All I would eat was the pepperoni off the top. Then, the Nintendo Game Boy was new. That was the big craze, and I was quite skilled. I was the smallest kid and some of the other children would hand me their devices to pass certain levels on games because I could do it, and I was really proud of that. So, it's all childhood recollections.

The Infamous Moment

OK, the infamous quote, do you remember how it happened? Did you grasp the meaning?

At the time, I wasn't fully aware of what the word provocative meant, but I realized it got a reaction and it caused the crew to chuckle. I knew it was kind of something I shouldn't normally say, but I was given special permission in this case because it was comedic.

“It was a difficult decision for her.”

How it originated, according to family lore, was they hadn't finalized all the dialogue. Certain bits of dialogue were written into the script, but once they had the entire ensemble assembled, it wasn't pure improvisation, but they developed it during shooting and, reportedly someone in charge came to my mom and said, "There's a concept. We want Miko to have this line. Are you okay with this?" My mom didn't answer immediately. She said, "I need to consider this, I need time" and took some time. She really wrestled with it. She said she had doubts, but she thought it would likely become one of the unforgettable moments from the movie and she was right.