Hot Frosty's Dustin Milligan Admits the Netflix Christmas Movie’s Shirtless Scenes Brought Up ‘Insecurities’ (Exclusive)

Dustin Milligan is opening up about the "insecurities" he experienced while shooting the Netflix holiday movie Hot Frosty.

The 39-year-old actor stars in the rom-com as Jack, a hunky snowman brought to life by widow Kathy (Lacey Chabert) with the help of a magic scarf. His leading-man role involved some shirtless scenes, which Milligan tells PEOPLE brought up some "body-image issues" for him.

"The physical comedy was such a joy for me, but exposing my body on camera brings up a lot of insecurities and body-image issues I have," the Schitt's Creek alum says, before sharing how he overcame those feelings.

"So in order to do a character like Jack justice," he continues, "I had to let go in a way I've never done before and just be fully physically liberated in every single scene, which simultaneously challenged the discomfort that being so exposed brought and allowed the pure joy I was feeling shine through — I hope!"

Chabert, 42, commended Milligan for his bravery and willingness to throw himself so fully into his character.

"He has an incredible gift for physical comedy, and he's also just really brave," she tells PEOPLE. "He's a wonderful actor, and he was willing to totally commit and go for it, and that's what this character needed."

She adds, "He's just so free. He was willing to try anything, I feel like, in the takes and in his performance, and that's kind of a vulnerable thing to do, and he was just wonderful."

While Milligan faced some discomfort playing Jack, he and the rest of the cast also enjoyed a lot of laughs on set while shooting the movie, which also stars Craig Robinson, Lauren Holly, Joe Lo Truglio. Katy Mixon and Chrishell Stause.

Both romantic leads even found themselves breaking character at points as the giggles got to them.

"There were so many takes that turned into outtakes because I couldn't stop laughing," Chabert recalls. "I'm the worst at not laughing when you're not supposed to. So there were many a take that I accidentally ruined because I broke and laughed."

"Our director, Jerry Ciccoritti, encouraged all of us to improvise throughout filming, and even though so much of it never made the final cut, making each other laugh was basically the goal of every day," Milligan adds. "Everyone broke at one point or another, and it was a privilege to do so in such good company."

Milligan previously told PEOPLE that in preparing to step into the snowy shoes of his character Jack, he looked to another holiday comedy for inspiration: Elf.

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"I've had the pleasure of playing naive dumb-dumbs many times before, but never quite like Jack, so I drew from Elf the most," he said of the 2003 classic starring Will Ferrell. "I also looked at 13 Going on 30, Big and even some old Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin movies to help round him out."

Hot Frosty is available to stream on Netflix.