John Leguizamo Recalls Friction With 'Neurotic' Patrick Swayze on 'To Wong Foo' Set
John Leguizamo is recalling his time with the late Patrick Swayze while on the set of their 1995 comedy-drama, To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar.
Leguizamo was speaking to Andy Cohen on his SiriusXM show, Andy Cohen Live, when the host brought up the Beeban Kidron-directed film, which Leguizamo hailed as ahead of its time given its heavy LGBTQ+ theme with Leguizamo, Swayze and Wesley Snipes moonlighting as drag queens.
"And it's so unusual. I mean, you, Wesley Snipes and [Patrick] Swayze," Cohen said, to which Leguizamo responded by saying, "Patrick Swayze. Rest in peace."
Cohen then pivoted to how all he heard about Swayze back then was that he was "an absolute angel."
"Hm," Leguizamo demurred, to which Cohen responded with, "Oh, interesting."
Leguizamo then shared his onset experience with Swayze.
"That's different than what I experienced," he said. "He was just, rest in peace, I love him. He 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."
When asked if he was a perfectionist, the 63-year-old actor opened up a bit more.
"I don't know. Just neurotic. I think maybe a tiny bit insecure, and then Wesley and I had, we vibed because, you know, we're people of color. We got each other and I'm also an improviser, and he [Swayze] didn't like that," Leguizamo said. "He couldn't keep up with it and it would make him mad and upset sometimes. 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.' 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 acknowledged Swayze worked "way differently," whereas he "invented" his role.
"I rewrote that role. I expanded that role because that role was nothing," Leguizamo said. "Douglas Carter Beane may disagree because he wrote the script, but he knows what I brought to it. He knows."
This is not the first time Leguizamo has spoken about his textured history with Swayze. In September 2020, Leguizamo told Yahoo! Entertainment how he and Swayze almost got into a fistfight on the set of the film due to Leguizamo insisting on improvising the role.
"I was ad-libbing... and [Patrick] was tired," Leguizamo told the outlet. "He said, 'Are you going to do that again?' And I go, 'Yeah, you know how the routine is.' He goes, 'Well, why don't you shut up?' And I said, 'Why don’t you make me?!'"
But the situation never evolved to fists flying, thanks to the underlying humor in the ordeal.
"We were about to fight, but were like: 'Take a look at ourselves -- we're in hot pants and f**k me pumps.' It was ridiculous!" Leguizamo recalled. "So we stopped and we hugged."
Jennifer Grey and Patrick Swayze on August 17, 1987 in New York City.
Swayze died in 2009 after a long battle with pancreatic cancer. And in his memoir, The Time of My Life, Swayze shared his point of view on the ordeal.
"I loved working with John and Wesley, both of whom looked absolutely fabulous in drag. We had a lot of fun during filming, though occasionally John's hyperactive energy started to drive me a little crazy," Swayze penned in his memoir. "He's got only one speed -- full throttle -- and sometimes it got to be too much. But it did lead to one of the funnier moments on the shoot."
In his 2009 book, Swayze recalled arriving onset one day extremely exhausted and wanted to get rehearsal over and done with.
Patrick Swayze.
"But John was in typical high-energy form, cracking jokes and doing his whole improv comedy routine. Normally, I found him hilarious. This particular morning, I wanted to stuff a sock in his mouth," Swayze wrote. "On and on he went, interrupting the rehearsal with one crazy comic riff after another. Finally, completely fed up, I snapped, 'Oh God! Would you just shut the f**k up for once?'"
Swayze added, "Well, John is a scrappy little fiery Latino who can probably kick the butts of guys three times his size. He came right at me, fists up, yelling, 'Come on, let's go! You want to f**k with me? I'll f**k you up!'"
The late actor corroborated Leguizamo's story that they suddenly stopped arguing after realizing they were dressed in drag during the rehearsal.
"We must have looked ridiculous, a couple of tough guys ready to go at each other while wearing panty hose," Swayze wrote. "I love John, and I love that he went at me with fists up and makeup on. Not many guys would have done that, and though it didn't seem funny at the time, it sure does now."
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