When Dustin Milligan got the call about playing a snowman-turned-hot-guy in a new Netflix Christmas movie, he hesitated.
“I got the script and saw that it was called Hot Frosty,” Milligan said with a laugh, in a recent Zoom interview with Decider. “Needless to say, I had some reservations about, about it. But as soon as I started reading it, I was struck by how much more it was than just what that title makes you think it’s going to be.”
Rest assured, Hot Frosty is, in fact, a comedy about a hot version Frosty the Snowman, named Jack (Milligan). Lacey Chabert stars as Kathy, a lonely widow trying to move on from the death of her husband. When she accidentally magically transforms a life-like human ice sculpture into a chiseled human man, she realizes she may be ready to love again… as long as Jack doesn’t melt first.
Directed by Jerry Ciccoritti, with a screenplay by Russell Hainline, Hot Frosty leans into its absurdity. Milligan—who is also known from Schitt’s Creek as Ted, the veternarian boyfriend of Alexis—flaunts his physical comedy chops, as well as his impressive physique. He stumbles across fake snow piles like a newborn deer, experiencing the world with a wide-eyed wonder akin to Will Ferrell in Elf. But Mulligan does it while wearing only a strategically-placed scarf. Don’t worry, it was pinned down.
“The scarf we sewed to one part in the back, and then we looped it around and then showed it to one part in the front,” Milligan explained. “Had to be very careful with those needles!”
Milligan spoke to Decider about transforming into a hot snowman, exposing his body to the elements, and the not-safe-for-work joke that was cut from the film.
DECIDER: What was your initial reaction to the premise of this movie and the role you’d you would be playing?
DUSTIN MILLIGAN: Our director, Jerry Ciccoritti—who I’d worked with briefly on Schitt’s Creek years ago—he called me out of the blue. I did not have his number saved in my phone, so I literally just decided to answer this strange Ontario area code phone number! He was like, “I’ve got this movie. I think you’d be perfect for it. Take a look and let me know what you think.” When I saw that it was called Hot Frosty… needless to say, I had some reservations. But as soon as I started reading, I was struck by how much more it was than what that title makes you think it’s going to be. And I was immediately excited for the prospect of physical comedy—to embody, physically, this guy who is so literally brand new to the world and experiencing everything for the very first time. The sense of wonder, excitement, and earnestness that he has. I was so on board right away, because it had everything that I didn’t even know I was looking for.
What do you recall from filming your first scene in the movie, where you come to life?
We shot in a town called Brockville, Ontario [in Canada]. It was probably two in the morning when we shot that, in the middle of late April, maybe early May. It actually wasn’t terribly cold, but it was pretty cool. The makeup team did a really wonderful job—white snowy makeup [on the body], and little bits of blue in my chest hair, and on my eyebrows, to make it look like icicles. It was about, in those moments especially, leaning into the uninhibited physicality that this character would would, I think, need to have, in order to do it justice. Jerry called action and I stumbled out of the fake snow pile that I was standing in, and started flopping around all goofy and wacky!
That ice sculpture looks so much like you! Was that made from a mold of your face?
Yeah. I only signed on about two weeks before we started shooting, so there was quite a rush to take a bunch of photos, and then send it to the sculptor—who I want to say, is the same sculptor who did all of the heads on Game of Thrones. Like when people get beheaded. Pretty sure. So pretty cool! But yeah, so there were photographs that my wife took of me standing, in almost nothing, on our deck in Los Angeles, and just doing a 360 thing. And they were able to take it from there, and make me look much better than I do in real life!
Well, you look great. Did you feel pressure to get in shape, given how much you’re without a shirt in the movie?
It was about two weeks, or less out ,from shooting, so really the only preparation I could do was to just to dive into the character. It required being quite exposed, which is not always totally comfortable. But getting over that hurdle and just leaning into it—I actually feel like I learned something about myself as a result of that, which I wasn’t expecting, but certainly was very welcome.
At least you get a scarf! How do they make sure the scarf stays in place for that first scene?
They do CGI-out the fact that I’m wearing these… I don’t know if it’s called a dancer’s belt, but you’re in like this weird, thick underwear—very strange stuff that they put you in. The scarf we sewed to one part in the back, and then we looped it around and then showed it to one part in the front. Had to be very careful with those needles!
Two of my favorite scenes are when you’re helping Lauren Holly get her car out of the snow, and then when you’re competitively eating ice with Craig Robinson. What can you tell me about filming those two scenes?
With Craig, eating the ice, I was just trying to mimic. I’m always learning, right? I’m learning from him, while he’s trying to intimidate me. I’m learning how to be intimidating back, while simultaneously sweating so much that I need to fill myself with ice in order to stay cool. [Laughs.] It was a pretty funny day, because it was just Craig and I trying to give each other the stink eye while stuffing ice cubes in our face.
Then that scene with Lauren—that honestly is one of my favorite memories of the shoot. We didn’t chat a bunch, ahead of time, as to what we were going to be doing in that scene. And there is a very not-family-friendly, long part of that scene, where the innuendo and the improvising of getting her unstuck went on and on and on. A big goal for me, was: How can we make the crew laugh with some of this stuff? That was just so fun and satisfying to—after Jerry would call, “Cut”—to hear everyone in the monitor’s tent, just laughing
Can you tease anything that got cut that made the crew laugh?
I mean… as one could imagine, there’s a bit of a comparison to doing the deed, as I’m trying to get her unstuck. The line that’s kept in is, “Would you like me to get behind you and push?” But there was just a lot more references to… that. I don’t know how much I could really get into it! [Laughs.] All the bits about the tailpipe, and all that. Needless to say, it was very funny, and probably will never be seen by an audience, ever.
Oh, please give us the tailpipe line.
[Laughs.] I’ve said too much already.
Fair enough. Talk to me about working with Lacey Chabert—what stood out to you about working with her?
I’m such a fan of Lacey’s—not only her work in the holiday movie space and the rom-com space, but also growing up with Party of Five, Lost in Space, and so many other things. I was a little intimidated, to be honest, because you never know someone like her—an icon, the queen of Christmas—you never know quite what you’re going to get. I was truly relieved and shocked at how genuinely kind, gracious, and nice she is. I was marveling at how quickly the partnership formed, having only met like a couple of days before we started shooting.
Before I let you go, I have to say that I love you on Schitt’s Creek. Are you still in touch with Annie Murphy or anyone from the cast?
I am, yeah. Annie and I—every now and again, we go hang out when she’s in town, or when I’m in her neck of the woods. And one of the EP and writers on the show, Rupinder [Gill] and I, we hang out literally almost every Sunday. We go for walks together. That’s the kind of show where a bunch of Canadians, not really knowing what they’re stumbling into… It sticks with you. I’m glad that there’s as many good eggs on that show as I think people would hope.
