I'm Known As the ‘Penis and Vagina’ Kid from the Arnold Schwarzenegger Comedy: An Interview.

The action icon is rightfully celebrated as an Hollywood heavyweight. However, during the peak of his blockbuster fame in the 1980s and 1990s, he also headlined several surprisingly great comedies. A prime example is Kindergarten Cop, which marks its 35th anniversary this winter.

The Film and That Line

In the 1990 movie, Schwarzenegger portrays a tough police officer who poses as a kindergarten teacher to locate a fugitive. During the film's runtime, the procedural element functions as a loose framework for Arnold to have charming scenes with children. Arguably the most famous belongs to a child named Joseph, who unprompted rises and informs the former bodybuilder, “Boys have a penis, and girls get a vagina.” The Terminator responds dryly, “Thank you for that information.”

The young actor was brought to life by former young actor Miko Hughes. In addition to this part featured a character arc on Full House as the bully to the famous sisters and the pivotal role of the resurrected boy in the 1989 adaptation of Stephen King’s Pet Sematary. He still works in film today, with a slate of movies on the horizon. Furthermore, he engages with fans at popular culture events. He recently shared his experiences from the set of Kindergarten Cop after all this time.

Behind the Scenes

Interviewer: First, 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.

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

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

Do you recall how you were cast in Kindergarten Cop?

My mother, mainly would accompany me to auditions. Sometimes it was a mass tryout. There'd be a room full of young actors and we'd all just have to wait, be seen, be in there less than five minutes, deliver a quick line they wanted and that's all. 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 feeling about him?

He was very kind. He was playful. He was nice, which I suppose stands to reason. It'd be weird if he was unpleasant to all the kids in the classroom, that surely wouldn't foster a productive set. He was great to work with.

“It'd be weird if he was mean to all the kids in the classroom.”

I understood he was a big action star because I was told, but I had barely seen his movies. I felt the importance — he was a big deal — but he wasn't scary to me. He was merely entertaining and I was eager to interact with him when he was available. He was occupied, of course, but he'd sometimes engage here and there, and we would dangle from his limbs. He'd flex and we'd be hanging off. He was incredibly giving. He purchased for each child in the classroom a personal stereo, which at the time was the hottest tech. This was the must-have gadget, that funky old yellow cassette player. I used to rock out to the Power Rangers soundtrack and the Ninja Turtles soundtrack for a long time on that thing. It eventually broke. I also have a authentic coach's whistle. He had the referee's whistle, and the kids all were gifted copies as well.

Do you remember your experience as being positive?

You know, it's amusing, that movie was this cultural thing. It was such a big movie, and it was an incredible opportunity, and you would think, in retrospect, I would want my memories to be of collaborating with Schwarzenegger, the direction of Ivan Reitman, the location shoot, seeing the set, but my memories are of being a really picky eater 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 just released. That was the hot thing, and I was proficient. I was the smallest kid and some of the older kids would hand me their devices to get past hard parts on games because I knew how, and I was quite pleased with myself. So, it's all youthful anecdotes.

The Infamous Moment

OK, the penis and vagina line, do you remember the context? Did you understand the words?

At the time, I wasn't fully aware of what the word shocking meant, but I understood it was edgy and it caused the crew to chuckle. I knew it was kind of something I shouldn't normally say, but I was given approval in this case because it was comedic.

“My mom thought hard about it.”

How it came about, from what I understand, was they didn't have specific roles. A few scenes were written into the script, but once they had the whole cast on the set, it wasn't pure improvisation, but they worked on it while filming and, I suppose it's either the director or producers came to my mom and said, "There's a concept. 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 a day or two. She deliberated carefully. She said she wasn't sure, but she felt it will probably be one of the iconic quotes from the movie and her instinct was correct.