The star of an acclaimed thriller based their washed-up character on ‘horrible human’ Steven Seagal

John Leguizamo is known for speaking his mind, and the actor has never been shy when it comes to trashing his Executive Decision co-star Steven Seagal.

To be fair, it’s not like the Super Mario Bros. veteran is the only person to have broached the subject of the veteran action hero being an asshole, but he’s finally managed to turn it into something positive by using the controversial martial artist as the inspiration for his performance in acclaimed black comedy thriller The Menu.

In the film, Leguizamo plays an arrogant, washed-up, and past their prime star doing whatever they can to cling onto former glories, and in an interview with Entertainment Weekly, the 62 year-old admitted that there was one name above all he leaned on for influence.

“I’ve met lots of these stars like that, maybe before they were washed up. I mean, now they’re washed-up. I kind of based mine on Steven Seagal. I had a bad run-in with him. We did a movie together. It was Executive Decision. He’s kind of a horrible human.”

Leguizamo also revealed earlier this year that he “did not have a good time with Steven Seagal” when they collaborated on the 1996 airborne thriller, before adding that “no one has” for an additional burn. On the plus side, he did manage to turn a negative into a positive more than a quarter of a century later, with The Menu winning strong notices from critics and widespread praise for the entire ensemble cast, so it did kind of work out in the long run.