John Leguizamo Says “It Was Difficult” Working With “Neurotic” Patrick Swayze On ‘To Wong Foo’

John Leguizamo candidly spoke about the “difficult” experience he had starring alongside Patrick Swayze and Wesley Snipes in the 1995 comedy, To Wong Foo, Thanks For Everything! Julie Newmar.

Though he praised the late actor, Leguizamo explained during a recent appearance on Andy Cohen‘s SiriusXM show Radio Andy that he and Swayze certainly had their differences on set.

“Rest in peace, I love him. [Swayze] was just neurotic and I’m not … you know, I’m neurotic too but, I don’t know. He was just … it was difficult working with him,” Leguizamo said. “Just neurotic, I think maybe a tiny bit insecure.”

Leguizamo claimed that Swayze “couldn’t keep up with” his improvisation. “I’m also an improviser, and [Patrick] didn’t like that,” he recalled.

“He’d be like, ‘Are you gonna say a line like that?’ I’d go, ‘You know me. I’m gonna do me. I’m gonna just keep making up lines,'” Leguizamo shared on Radio Andy. “He goes, ‘Well, can you just say the line the way it is?’ I go, ‘I can’t.’ And the director didn’t want me to.”

Leguizamo said “it would make [Swayze] mad and upset sometimes.”

As for Snipes, however, Leguizamo said, “Wesley and I, we vibed because, you know, we’re people of color and we got each other.

The feature from Beeban Kidron starred Snipes, Swayze, and Leguizamo as three drag queens who set out on a zany roadtrip across the country to Los Angeles to make it in time for the national drag competition.

Leguizamo spoke proudly of his performance in the film, noting that he practically “rewrote that role” from what screenwriter Douglas Carter Beane intended.

“I expanded that role, ’cause that role was nothing,” Leguizamo said. “Beane may disagree because he wrote the script, but he knows what I brought to it. He knows. … He’s incredible.”

The revelation came up after Cohen commented that he heard many store about “what an absolute angel” Swayze was, to which Leguizamo replied, “Hmm, that’s different than what I experienced.”

The actor also revealed in 2020 that their feud almost came to blows.

“We were about to fight but were like, ‘Take a look at ourselves — we’re in hot pants and f— me pumps.’ It was ridiculous!” Leguizamo told Yahoo! Entertainment. “So we stopped and we hugged.”

Despite their differences, Leguizamo praised the film’s legacy in the LGBTQ+ community.

“It was very important because a lot of transgender kids, [LGBTQ+] kids come up to me, who are now I guess a little older, they said because of that show and my character, they felt confident to come out to their parents. And I felt like, ‘Wow, that’s what art’s supposed to do,'” he told Cohen.