I Am the ‘Penis and Vagina’ Kid from Kindergarten Cop: A Candid Conversation.
The action icon is universally recognized as an action movie legend. Yet, in the midst of his star power in the 1980s and 1990s, he also delivered several critically acclaimed comedies. The standout film is Kindergarten Cop, which marks its 35th anniversary this December.
The Role and An Iconic Moment
In the 1990 movie, Schwarzenegger plays a hardened detective who goes undercover as a elementary educator to catch a killer. Throughout the movie, the procedural element acts as a simple backdrop for Arnold to have charming moments with his young class. Arguably the most famous belongs to a student named Joseph, who unprompted announces and declares the stoic star, “Males have a penis, and girls get a vagina.” The Terminator responds dryly, “Thank you for that information.”
That iconic child was portrayed by child star Miko Hughes. In addition to this part encompassed a recurring role on Full House playing the antagonist to the child stars and the haunting part of the resurrected boy in the film version of Stephen King’s Pet Sematary. Hughes remains active today, with several projects in development. Additionally, he is a regular on popular culture events. Recently discussed his experiences from the set of Kindergarten Cop over three decades on.
Memories from the Set
Q: To begin, how old were you when you filmed Kindergarten Cop?
Miko Hughes: I believe I was four. I was the most junior of all the kids on set.
Wow, I can't remember being four. Do you have any memories from that time?
Yeah, a little bit. They're snapshots. They're like visual recollections.
Do you recall how you got the part in Kindergarten Cop?
My family, especially my mother would bring me to auditions. Frequently it was a mass tryout. There'd be dozens of children and we'd all simply wait around, be seen, be in there less than five minutes, deliver a quick line they wanted and then leave. My parents would coach me on the dialogue and then, when I became literate, that was the initial content I was reading.
Do you have an impression of meeting Arnold? What was your feeling about him?
He was very kind. He was enjoyable. He was nice, which arguably isn't too surprising. It'd be weird if he was a dick to all the kids in the classroom, that probably wouldn't make for a positive atmosphere. He was great to work with.
“It'd be weird if he was unpleasant to all the kids in the classroom.”
I understood he was a huge celebrity because I was told, but I had never really seen his movies. I sensed the excitement — like, that's cool — but he wasn't scary to me. He was just fun and I only wanted to hang out with him when he was available. He was occupied, of course, but he'd kind of play with us here and there, and we would dangle from his limbs. He'd show his strength and we'd be hanging off. He was really, really generous. He bought every kid in the classroom a Sony Walkman, which at the time was like an iPhone. This was the must-have gadget, that distinctive classic yellow cassette player. I played the Power Rangers soundtrack and the Ninja Turtles soundtrack for years on that thing on that thing. It finally gave out. I also have a authentic coach's whistle. He had the referee's whistle, and the kids all got a whistle as well.
Do you remember your time filming as being positive?
You know, it's amusing, that movie became a phenomenon. It was such a big movie, and it was a wonderful time, and you would think, as an adult, I would want my memories to be of working with Arnold, the legendary director, the location shoot, the production design, but my memories are of being a finitely child at lunch. Like, they got everyone pizza, but I didn't even like pizza. All I would eat was the meat from the top. Then, the first-generation Game Boy was just released. That was the coolest toy, and I was quite skilled. I was the smallest kid and some of the bigger kids would ask for my help to beat difficult stages on games because I knew how, and I was quite pleased with myself. So, it's all childhood recollections.
The Infamous Moment
OK, that specific dialogue, do you remember how it happened? Did you grasp the meaning?
At the time, I likely didn't understand what the word shocking meant, but I realized it got a reaction and it got a big laugh. I was aware 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 originated, based on what I was told, was they were still developing characters. A few scenes were part of the original screenplay, but once they had the whole cast on the set, it wasn't pure improvisation, but they refined it on set and, presumably the filmmakers 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, "I need to consider this, I'll decide tomorrow" and took some time. It was a tough call for her. She said she was hesitant, but she felt it would likely become one of the iconic quotes from the movie and her instinct was correct.