John Leguizamo says ‘neurotic’ Patrick Swayze was ‘difficult’ on ‘To Wong Foo’ when they nearly got into physical fight

“To wong … feud?”

In an interview on SiriusXM’s “Andy Cohen Live,” John Leguizamo described his late co-star Patrick Swayze as “neurotic” and “difficult” to work with. The two actors starred in the 1995 drag queen cult classic “To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar” alongside Wesley Snipes and Stockard Channing.

Leguizamo’s comments were spurred by host Andy Cohen’s suggestion that Swayze had a sterling reputation among his co-stars.

Leguizamo, 63, disagreed, “That’s different than what I experienced. 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.”

Eternally youthful, Leguizamo is also famously outspoken; in 2020 he boycotted the Emmys, citing “cultural apartheid.”

Leguizamo similarly slammed the entertainment industry for casting James Franco as Fidel Castro in an upcoming film project. “I don’t got a prob with Franco but he ain’t Latino!” the comedian concluded in an impassioned Instagram post.

Cohen suggested that Swayze, who died at 57 in 2009 after losing his battle with pancreatic cancer, may have been a perfectionist.

Leguizamo countered, calling the actor neurotic and insecure. “I don’t know, just neurotic, maybe a tiny bit insecure. Wesley and I, we vibed, ‘cause, you know, we’re people of color, and we’ve got each other.”

Leguizamo’s recent conversation with Cohen is not the first time he has publicly commented on his on-set differences with Swayze. In 2018, he relayed to a crowd at New York Magazine’s Vulture Festival that the two nearly came to blows on the set of “To Wong Foo.”

“One day he told me to shut up and I was like, ‘Make me,’” he continued. “We’re about to punch each other except I’m in hot pants and pumps and he’s dressed like Audrey Hepburn … Wesley’s like, ‘Let him go. Let him go,’ but the director stopped him.”

Leguizamo joked, “We were so in character we were PMSing at the same time.”

Leguizamo speculates that his improvisational acting style may have been aggravating to the straight-laced Swayze.

“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 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 credits that off-the-cuff spontaneity for adding dimension to his portrayal of drag queen Chi-Chi Rodriguez.

“I invented my role. I rewrote that role,” Leguizamo said. “I expanded that role, ‘cause that role was nothing.”

Beyond the artistic differences between himself and Swayze, Leguizamo is proud of the enduring impact and queer resonance of “To Wong Foo.”

“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,” said Leguizamo.

“And I felt like, ‘Wow, that’s what art’s supposed to do.’ Art’s supposed to give people courage, art’s supposed to teach people empathy, that’s what I got in the business for.”