Inside John Leguizamo And Patrick Swayze's Intense Feud

We may receive a commission on purchases made from links.

Film legend Patrick Swayze wasn't known for making enemies. Playing the brooding hero alongside Jennifer Grey in "Dirty Dancing," and Demi Moore in "Ghost," Swayze's real-life lore was founded on his kind and charismatic personality. But one former co-star doesn't remember Swayze that way. According to John Leguizamo, he and the Swayz had major beef while filming one of the best LGBTQ+ movies to come out of the '90s: 1995's "To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar," where the pair — alongside Wesley Snipes — played drag queens on a cross-country trip from New York to Los Angeles.

Opening up about their heated arguments on set to Andy Cohen on SiriusXM's "Radio Andy" in 2024, Leguizamo said he and Swayze didn't see eye to eye on several creative aspects of the production. "Rest in peace, I love him," Leguizamo revered about Swayze. But, "He was just neurotic." The comedian said that Swayze often had a problem with Leguizamo's tendency to improvise lines, something the "Road House" actor "couldn't keep up with."

Things became so tense between the co-stars that they almost had a physical altercation on set. "We were about to duke it out. We were about to fisticuff each other," Leguizamo recalled on a 2010 episode of "George Stromboulopoulos Tonight." Although, the "Ice Age" star remembered the absurdity of the fight, as the two actors were dressed in women's clothing. "We were both into character so much that we were actually PMSing at the same time, I guess," Leguizamo mused.

Not only can the "To Wong Foo" actor laugh about it now, but John Leguizamo was fortunately able to leave everything in the past with Patrick Swayze before his untimely death. In a September 2025 interview with People, the "Pimps, Hos, Playa Hatas, and All the Rest of My Hollywood Friends: My Life" author said they reconciled via correspondence. "We were never in the same location, so that was kind of difficult," he revealed. "I'm a New Yorker and he was West Coast, but we did contact each other through letters and publicists; the polite way of doing it. And we made up." He added, "It would've been better in person, obviously."

Leguizamo does remember one "Wong Foo" scene fondly: the one where his and Swayze's characters, Chi Chi and Vida, go head-to-head about race and relationships. "I felt that as talented as he was, in that moment — because he saw how much I improvised — that he started improvising a ton, and gave back as good as I gave," The "Leguizamo Does America" host told People in 2025. Not only was it amusing to spar with Swayze on-screen, but Leguizamo said, "It was so great to see Patrick living up to his great potential."