I Was the ‘Penis and Vagina’ Kid from the Classic 1990 Film: A Look Back.

Arnold Schwarzenegger is rightfully celebrated as an action movie legend. But, at the height of his blockbuster fame in the late 20th century, he also headlined several genuinely hilarious comedies. Chief among them is Kindergarten Cop, which hits its 35th anniversary this holiday season.

The Role and That Line

In the classic film, Schwarzenegger plays a hardened detective who goes undercover as a elementary educator to catch a killer. For much of the story, the procedural element functions as a basic structure for Schwarzenegger to have charming interactions with kids. Arguably the most famous belongs to a student named Joseph, who spontaneously stands up and informs the stoic star, “Males have a penis, and girls get a vagina.” The Terminator responds dryly, “Thank you for that information.”

The young actor was portrayed by youth performer 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 child who returns in the screen translation of Stephen King’s Pet Sematary. Hughes remains active today, with a slate of movies listed on his IMDb. Furthermore, he frequently attends fan conventions. He recently recalled his experiences from the filming of the classic 35 years later.

Memories from the Set

Q: To begin, how old were you when you filmed Kindergarten Cop?

Miko Hughes: I think I was four. I was the smallest of all the kids on set.

That's impressive, I have no memory from being four. Do you retain any flashes from that time?

Yeah, a little bit. They're flashes. 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 an open call. There'd be 20, 30 kids and we'd all just have to wait, be seen, be in there briefly, do whatever little line they wanted and that's all. My parents would help me learn the words and then, as soon as I could read, that was probably the first stuff I was reading.

Do you have any recollection of meeting Arnold? What was your take on him?

He was incredibly nice. He was fun. He was good-natured, which I guess makes sense. It would be strange if he was unpleasant to all the kids in the classroom, that probably wouldn't make for a productive set. He was great to work with.

“It would have been odd if he was a dick to all the kids in the classroom.”

I understood he was a huge celebrity because that's what my parents told me, but I had not actually watched his movies. I knew the air around him — like, that's cool — but he wasn't scary to me. He was merely entertaining and I just wanted to play with him when he had time. He was working hard, but he'd occasionally joke around here and there, and we would cling to his muscles. He'd flex and we'd be dangling there. He was incredibly giving. He purchased for each child in the classroom a Sony Walkman, which at the time was the hottest tech. It was the hottest tech out there, that iconic bright yellow cassette player. I listened to the Power Rangers soundtrack and the Ninja Turtles soundtrack for ages on that thing. It finally gave out. I also have a genuine metal whistle. He had the teacher's whistle, and the kids all received one too as well.

Do you remember your time filming as being enjoyable?

You know, it's amusing, that movie was this cultural thing. It was such a big movie, and it was a wonderful time, and you would think, looking back now, I would want my memories to be of working with Arnold, the direction of Ivan Reitman, traveling to Oregon, being on a professional 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 meat from the top. Then, the original Game Boy was new. That was the big craze, and I was proficient. I was the smallest kid 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 quite pleased with myself. So, it's all little kid memories.

The Infamous Moment

OK, the penis and vagina line, do you remember anything about it? 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 got a big laugh. I was aware it was kind of something I wasn't supposed to do, but I was given special permission in this case because it was funny.

“She really wrestled with it.”

How it originated, according to family lore, was they hadn't finalized all the dialogue. A few scenes were established early on, but once they had the entire ensemble assembled, it wasn't pure improvisation, but they worked on it while filming and, reportedly the filmmakers 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, "I need to consider this, let me sleep on it" and took a day or two. She deliberated carefully. She said she was hesitant, but she believed it could end up as one of the most memorable lines from the movie and she was right.