🔗 Share this article I Am the ‘Penis and Vagina’ Kid from Kindergarten Cop: An Interview. The Austrian Oak is rightfully celebrated as an action movie legend. Yet, during the peak of his star power in the late 20th century, he also delivered several critically acclaimed comedies. A prime example is Kindergarten Cop, which celebrates its three-and-a-half decade milestone this winter. The Story and An Iconic Moment In the classic film, Schwarzenegger portrays a undercover cop who masquerades as a kindergarten teacher to track down a criminal. During the movie, the procedural element serves as a basic structure for Schwarzenegger to film humorous moments with his young class. The most unforgettable belongs to a student named Joseph, who spontaneously announces and informs the stoic star, “Boys have a penis, and girls get a vagina.” Schwarzenegger deadpans, “Thanks for the tip.” That iconic child was played by child star Miko Hughes. Beyond this role featured a character arc on Full House as the schoolyard menace to the Olsen twins and the haunting part of the child who returns in the film version of Stephen King’s Pet Sematary. He continues to act today, with several projects listed on his IMDb. Furthermore, he frequently attends the con circuit. He recently shared his experiences from the production over three decades on. A Young Actor's Perspective Question: Starting off, 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. That's remarkable, I have no memory from being four. Do you remember anything from that time? Yeah, to a degree. They're brief images. They're like picture memories. Do you recall how you were cast in Kindergarten Cop? My parents, primarily my mom would accompany me to auditions. Sometimes it was a mass tryout. There'd be a room full of young actors and we'd all patiently queue, go into the room, be in there briefly, 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 the initial content I was reading. Do you have a specific memory of meeting Arnold? What was your feeling about him? He was very kind. He was fun. He was pleasant, which arguably makes sense. It'd be weird if he was unpleasant to all the kids in the classroom, that likely wouldn't create a positive atmosphere. He was fun to be around. “It'd be weird if he was mean to all the kids in the classroom.” I understood he was a major movie star because that's what my parents told me, but I had never really seen his movies. I sensed the excitement — it was exciting — but he wasn't scary to me. He was simply playful and I just wanted to play with him when he had time. He was working hard, but he'd kind of play with us here and there, and we would dangle from his limbs. He'd flex and we'd be dangling there. He was exceptionally kind. He gifted all the students in the classroom a Sony Walkman, which at the time was the hottest tech. This was the must-have gadget, that iconic bright 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 genuine metal whistle. He had the teacher's whistle, and the kids all received one too as well. Do you remember your days on set as being positive? You know, it's interesting, that movie was this cultural thing. It was a huge film, and it was such an amazing experience, and you would think, as an adult, I would want my memories to be of the star himself, the direction of Ivan Reitman, the location shoot, seeing the set, but my memories are of being a finitely child at lunch. For example, they got everyone pizza, but I didn't even like pizza. All I would eat was the pepperoni off the top. Then, the first-generation Game Boy was just released. That was the coolest toy, and I was proficient. I was the smallest kid and some of the other children 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 little kid memories. The Line OK, the penis and vagina line, do you remember anything about it? Did you understand the words? At the time, I probably didn't know what the word taboo meant, but I knew it was provocative and it made adults laugh. I understood it was kind of something I shouldn't normally say, but I was given special permission in this case because it was humorous. “It was a difficult decision for her.” How it came about, from what I understand, was they didn't have specific roles. Certain bits of dialogue were written into the script, but once they had the kids together, it wasn't necessarily improv, but they worked on it while filming and, I suppose it's either the director or producers came to my mom and said, "We're thinking. We want Miko to say this. Are you okay with this?" My mom didn't answer immediately. She said, "Let me think about it, let me sleep on it" and took a day or two. It was a tough call for her. She said she had doubts, but she felt it could end up as one of the unforgettable moments from the movie and she was right.
The Austrian Oak is rightfully celebrated as an action movie legend. Yet, during the peak of his star power in the late 20th century, he also delivered several critically acclaimed comedies. A prime example is Kindergarten Cop, which celebrates its three-and-a-half decade milestone this winter. The Story and An Iconic Moment In the classic film, Schwarzenegger portrays a undercover cop who masquerades as a kindergarten teacher to track down a criminal. During the movie, the procedural element serves as a basic structure for Schwarzenegger to film humorous moments with his young class. The most unforgettable belongs to a student named Joseph, who spontaneously announces and informs the stoic star, “Boys have a penis, and girls get a vagina.” Schwarzenegger deadpans, “Thanks for the tip.” That iconic child was played by child star Miko Hughes. Beyond this role featured a character arc on Full House as the schoolyard menace to the Olsen twins and the haunting part of the child who returns in the film version of Stephen King’s Pet Sematary. He continues to act today, with several projects listed on his IMDb. Furthermore, he frequently attends the con circuit. He recently shared his experiences from the production over three decades on. A Young Actor's Perspective Question: Starting off, 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. That's remarkable, I have no memory from being four. Do you remember anything from that time? Yeah, to a degree. They're brief images. They're like picture memories. Do you recall how you were cast in Kindergarten Cop? My parents, primarily my mom would accompany me to auditions. Sometimes it was a mass tryout. There'd be a room full of young actors and we'd all patiently queue, go into the room, be in there briefly, 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 the initial content I was reading. Do you have a specific memory of meeting Arnold? What was your feeling about him? He was very kind. He was fun. He was pleasant, which arguably makes sense. It'd be weird if he was unpleasant to all the kids in the classroom, that likely wouldn't create a positive atmosphere. He was fun to be around. “It'd be weird if he was mean to all the kids in the classroom.” I understood he was a major movie star because that's what my parents told me, but I had never really seen his movies. I sensed the excitement — it was exciting — but he wasn't scary to me. He was simply playful and I just wanted to play with him when he had time. He was working hard, but he'd kind of play with us here and there, and we would dangle from his limbs. He'd flex and we'd be dangling there. He was exceptionally kind. He gifted all the students in the classroom a Sony Walkman, which at the time was the hottest tech. This was the must-have gadget, that iconic bright 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 genuine metal whistle. He had the teacher's whistle, and the kids all received one too as well. Do you remember your days on set as being positive? You know, it's interesting, that movie was this cultural thing. It was a huge film, and it was such an amazing experience, and you would think, as an adult, I would want my memories to be of the star himself, the direction of Ivan Reitman, the location shoot, seeing the set, but my memories are of being a finitely child at lunch. For example, they got everyone pizza, but I didn't even like pizza. All I would eat was the pepperoni off the top. Then, the first-generation Game Boy was just released. That was the coolest toy, and I was proficient. I was the smallest kid and some of the other children 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 little kid memories. The Line OK, the penis and vagina line, do you remember anything about it? Did you understand the words? At the time, I probably didn't know what the word taboo meant, but I knew it was provocative and it made adults laugh. I understood it was kind of something I shouldn't normally say, but I was given special permission in this case because it was humorous. “It was a difficult decision for her.” How it came about, from what I understand, was they didn't have specific roles. Certain bits of dialogue were written into the script, but once they had the kids together, it wasn't necessarily improv, but they worked on it while filming and, I suppose it's either the director or producers came to my mom and said, "We're thinking. We want Miko to say this. Are you okay with this?" My mom didn't answer immediately. She said, "Let me think about it, let me sleep on it" and took a day or two. It was a tough call for her. She said she had doubts, but she felt it could end up as one of the unforgettable moments from the movie and she was right.