Speaking about his role in the new film The Menu, actor John Leguizamo has named Steven Seagal as the inspiration behind his character. In the movie, Leguizamo plays George Diaz, an arrogant, washed-up actor who hopes to land a job on a food show to resurrect his career. While bringing this character to life, Leguizamo was thinking of Seagal, feeling that the Under Siege star had a lot in common with George.
Promoting the movie in a new interview with Entertainment Weekly, Leguizamo says that he’s personally met many actors who are similar to George. However, he specifically names Segal as the actor whom the character was mostly based on. This is in part due to a bad experience Leguizamo had many years earlier working with Seagal on the 1996 action movie Executive Decision. As the actor explains:
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Leguizamo didn’t go into detail on what exactly happened, though he did share more details on the run-in during a previous interview with AV Club. According to Leguizamo, he was in rehearsals for the film when Seagal entered and “was like, ‘I’m in command. What I say is law.’ This made Leguizamo laugh, at which point he says he was physically attacked by his co-star.
John Leguizamo Loves the Message The Menu Sends to Viewers
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Leguizamo also recently spoke with MovieWeb about the film and touched on its themes. He observed how satisfying it is for him to be involved with the story about greedy rich people getting their comeuppance, and with that in mind, it’s not hard to see why his mind went from there to recalling his experience with Seagal.
Mark Mylod directs The Menu with a screenplay by Seth Reiss and Will Tracy. Along with Leguizamo, the film features Ralph Fiennes, Anya Taylor-Joy, Nicholas Hoult, Hong Chau, Judith Light, Reed Birney, and Janet McTeer.
The Menu is now playing in theaters.
