John Leguizamo found 'neurotic' Patrick Swayze difficult to work with

John Leguizamo found Patrick Swayze difficult to work with on the set of their 1995 movie To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar.

The Moulin Rouge! actor starred alongside Wesley Snipes and the late Dirty Dancing star in the '90s comedy, which followed three drag queens who embarked on a road trip.

During an interview with Andy Cohen on SiriusXM's Andy Cohen Live, Leguizamo admitted he didn't get on with Swayze as well as Snipes.

"Rest in peace, I love him. He was just neurotic. And I'm neurotic too, but I don't know, he was just - it was difficult working with him," he said of his co-star, who died in 2009.

When Cohen suggested that the Ghost star was perhaps a perfectionist, the actor replied, "I don't know, just neurotic, maybe a tiny bit insecure. And then Wesley and I, we vibed 'cause, you know, we're people of colour and we've got each other."

The Romeo + Juliet star then explained that they had different acting approaches, as he liked to improvise and Swayze preferred to stick to the script.

"He couldn't keep up with it, and it would make him mad and upset sometimes," he recalled. "He'd be like, 'Are you gonna say a line like that?' I 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 (Beeban Kidron) didn't want me to."

Leguizamo added that his character, Chi-Chi Rodriguez, was "nothing" in the screenplay so he expanded and rewrote his role through improvisation during the shoot.

Despite his difficulties with Swayze, the 63-year-old star is proud of the movie and its impact on the LGBTQ+ community.

"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," he shared. "And I felt like, 'Wow, that's what art's supposed to do.'"