I'm Known As the ‘Penis and Vagina’ Kid from the Classic 1990 Film: An Interview.
The action icon is best known as an Hollywood heavyweight. Yet, in the midst of his cinematic dominance in the 1980s and 1990s, he also headlined several surprisingly great comedies. Chief among them is Kindergarten Cop, which marks its 35-year mark this holiday season.
The Role and That Line
In the classic film, Schwarzenegger portrays a tough police officer who poses as a kindergarten teacher to locate a fugitive. For much of the film's runtime, the crime storyline functions as a loose framework for Arnold to share adorable scenes with children. Without a doubt the standout features a little boy named Joseph, who spontaneously stands up and states the stoic star, “Males have a penis, girls have a vagina.” Arnold deadpans, “I appreciate the insight.”
The boy behind the line was portrayed by former young actor Miko Hughes. In addition to this part featured a recurring role on Full House as the bully to the child stars and the haunting part of the resurrected boy in the film version of Stephen King’s Pet Sematary. He continues to act today, with several projects on the horizon. Furthermore, he is a regular on fan conventions. Recently shared his memories from the set of Kindergarten Cop 35 years later.
A Young Actor's Perspective
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 have any memories from that time?
Yeah, to a degree. They're snapshots. They're like visual recollections.
Do you recall how you landed the job in Kindergarten Cop?
My mother, mainly would take me to auditions. Often it was an open call. There'd be dozens of children and we'd all just have to wait, be seen, be in there for a very short time, do whatever little line they wanted and that's all. My parents would feed me the lines and then, as soon as I could read, that was some of the first material I was reading.
Do you have any recollection of meeting Arnold? What was your impression of him?
He was very kind. He was fun. He was pleasant, which arguably isn't too surprising. It'd be weird if he was a dick to all the kids in the classroom, that surely wouldn't foster a positive atmosphere. He was fun to be around.
“It would be strange if he was unpleasant to all the kids in the classroom.”
I knew he was a big action star because I was told, but I had not actually watched his movies. I sensed the excitement — it was exciting — but he didn't frighten 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 kind of play with us here and there, and we would dangle from his limbs. He'd show his strength and we'd be holding on. He was really, really generous. He purchased for each child in the classroom a Sony Walkman, which at the time was the hottest tech. That was the coolest device, 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 wore out in time. I also was given 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 fun?
You know, it's funny, that movie is such a landmark. It was such a big movie, and it was such an amazing experience, and you would think, in retrospect, I would want my memories to be of the star himself, the legendary director, visiting Astoria, seeing the set, 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 meat from the top. Then, the Nintendo Game Boy was just released. That was the big craze, and I was proficient. I was the youngest and some of the other children would bring me their Game Boys to beat difficult stages on games because I was able to, and I was felt accomplished. So, it's all little kid memories.
That Famous Quote
OK, the infamous quote, do you remember how it happened? Did you know what you were saying?
At the time, I wasn't fully aware of what the word taboo meant, but I realized it got a reaction and it got a big laugh. I knew it was kind of something I wouldn't usually utter, but I was given an exception in this case because it was comedic.
“My mom thought hard about it.”
How it came about, based on what I was told, was they didn't have specific roles. Certain bits of dialogue were established early on, but once they had the whole cast on the set, it was more of a collaboration, but they refined it on set and, I suppose 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, "Give me a moment, let me sleep on it" and took a short while. It was a tough call for her. She said she had doubts, but she believed it could end up as one of the iconic quotes from the movie and she was right.
