Some tales mellow with time; others get the ending they deserve. Because the cult traditional To Wong Foo, Thanks for Every little thing! Julie Newmar hits its thirtieth anniversary, John Leguizamo is trying again on the long-discussed pressure together with his co-star, Patrick Swayze, and the way they lastly settled it earlier than Swayze’s passing in 2009. With that, Leguizamo mentioned the precise logistics that had been concerned in making the reconciliation occur.
John Leguizamo defined that he and Patrick Swayze weren’t capable of reconnect face-to-face with the intention to make amends. Nevertheless, because the veteran actor wen ton to inform PEOPLE, they discovered a approach to shut the loop, because of a little bit of assist:
We had been by no means in the identical location, in order that was sort of troublesome. I am a New Yorker and he was West Coast. However we did contact one another by means of letters and publicists; the well mannered method of doing it. And we made up. It could’ve been higher in individual, clearly.
The friction between the 2 Wong Foo stars wasn’t precisely secret. By the Moulin Rouge! veteran’s personal telling, his improv-heavy strategy clashed with Swayze’s stick-to-the-page model again in 1995, a mismatch that generally bled from the work into actual life. Leguizamo has since admitted he can carry a grudge and even jokes:
Typically I am not essentially the most mature individual within the room, perhaps. I do not know what it’s. Typically I maintain grudges… Yeah, I’ll hold going to remedy and sometime I will repair all this.
Perspective is a strong factor and, now, after 30 years, John Leguizamo feels snug admitting that maturity isn’t his strongest high quality. What stands out right this moment is the grace discovered within the epilogue. As an alternative of a flashy reunion picture, we witness a really Hollywood-style reconciliation.
This softens the narrative surrounding a movie that has solely grown in status through the years, because it was one of many earliest mainstream motion pictures to have a good time drag tradition and the LGBTQ+ neighborhood. Patrick Swayze’s Vida Boheme, Leguizamo’s Chi-Chi Rodriguez, and Wesley Snipes’ Noxeema Jackson remodeled what may have been a typical street comedy right into a heartfelt and culturally impactful story, making it a movie that continues to be rediscovered by new audiences each few years.
The Mario Bros. veteran actor hasn’t saved his affection for his Wong Foo household quiet. He says he’s nonetheless in contact with Blythe Danner (“one of many greats,” in his phrases) and stays shut with Snipes, because it’s one in all his finest performances, praising his co-star for each expertise and character. He now speaks about these relationships with nostalgia and gratitude, which makes for a pleasant bookend to the much less flattering outdated headlines.
In the event you’re feeling the pull to revisit the film, and why wouldn’t you, as a result of it is the most effective motion pictures of the ’90s, To Wong Foo, Thanks for Every little thing! Julie Newmar is at the moment out there to buy or hire with a Prime Video subscription.
As for John Leguizamo’s skilled life, his newest undertaking, the crime drama Smoke, landed on the 2025 TV schedule earlier this 12 months, and all episodes can be found to stream with an Apple TV+ subscription.