John Leguizamo’s Favorite ‘Wong Foo’ Scene Was Patrick Swayze Fight (Exclusive)

Art imitated life for Patrick Swayze and John Leguizamo on the set of their movie To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar.

The pair famously butted heads on the set of the 1995 drag-queen dramedy, about a group of friends — Vida Boheme (Swayze, who died in 2009 at age 57), Noxeema Jackson (Wesley Snipes) and Chi-Chi Rodriguez (Leguizamo) — who road trip across the country to take part in the fictional Drag Queen of America beauty pageant and hit multiple bumps along the way.

One said bump is a particularly nasty, literal wig-snatching fight between Vida and Chi-Chi. But for Leguizamo, 65, it ended up being the most enjoyable scene to film.

“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 actor tells PEOPLE. “It was a lot of fun. And it was so great to see Patrick living up to his great potential.”

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Leguizamo goes on to say “it was so exciting” and “thrilling” to see Swayze go toe to toe with him in speaking his acting language, “and it was real, and it was fire.”

“And the whole crew was like, ‘Ooo,’ ” he recalls. “Our hair stood up on our arms because it was so intense, but funny, too. It was really funny.”

“And it was just that moment, and then we made up afterwards, so that was cool,” says the Bob Trevino Likes It star.

Leguizamo has been open about his feud with Swayze on the set of To Wong Foo, noting their differences in acting styles as a point of contention that nearly culminated in a physical altercation.

But now, 30 years later, he’s grateful that they were able to make up before Swayze’s death, despite it being “through letters and publicists,” a.k.a. “the polite way of doing it.”

“It would’ve been better in person, obviously,” the Leguizamo Does America host tells PEOPLE.

Looking at himself today, Leguizamo admits, “Sometimes I’m not the most mature person in the room, maybe. I don’t know what it is. Sometimes I hold grudges.”

He jokes in addition, “Yeah, I’m going to keep going to therapy and someday I’ll fix all this.”

To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar is available to stream on YouTube TV.