'Good on Paper' star Ryan Hansen says Iliza Shlesinger shut down his suggestion that they include sex scenes in the movie

• Ryan Hansen spoke with Insider about his role as Dennis Kelly in Netflix's "Good on Paper."
• He joked that his costar Iliza Shlesinger rejected his pitch for more "lovemaking scenes."
• "Iliza was like, 'We're not doing that, Ryan,'" the actor said.

Warning: This article contains spoilers for Netflix's "Good on Paper."

Ryan Hansen joked that his "Good on Paper" costar Iliza Shlesinger, who also wrote and produced the romantic comedy, rejected his proposal that they incorporate more intimate scenes in the movie.

In the Kimmy Gatewood-directed production, which arrived on Netflix Wednesday, the 39-year-old plays Dennis Kelly, a supposed financier that unabashedly shares unsolicited tales from his undergraduate days at Yale.

Shortly after crossing paths with comedian Andrea Singer (Shlesinger) on an airplane, he successfully snakes his way into her life, inching from stranger to friend to boyfriend.

And while the audience watches the characters build a passionate romance, no real intimate scenes between Dennis and Andrea are featured in "Good on Paper."

According to Hansen, he tried to make a case to include some.

"Yeah, I was pitching those," Hansen joked during a recent Zoom interview with Insider.

He continued, "I was like, 'We should have lovemaking scenes. We should have lovemaking scenes.' And Iliza was like, 'We're not doing that, Ryan.'"

"So, I lost on that," Hansen quipped.

Jokes aside, the "Veronica Mars" actor added that he isn't sure why the couple's steamier moments were excluded from the movie, suggesting that "maybe just no one wants to see that."

Hansen took the other characters' harsh insults about Dennis in stride

When Hansen joined the "Good on Paper" cast, he was signing up to be a self-absorbed villain masquerading as a major catch.

"I really enjoyed being able to be the guy that's the underdog and the weirdo and a little off-beat. I really enjoyed playing that because a lot of times, I pretend like I'm the cool guy," he told Insider.

To transform into Dennis, a character based on one of Shlesinger's real-life exes, Hansen tweaked his appearance, wearing fake teeth and wrapping extra padding around his stomach to give the illusion that he had a "little gut."

Dennis' looks served as the punchline for numerous jokes, many of which painted him as a seemingly more stable but less attractive option for Andrea, a comedian caught in a cycle of chasing handsome, unavailable men.

The protagonist's best friend Margot (Margaret Cho) calls Dennis "ugly," his roommate says "the image of him engaging in lovemaking is horrifying," and, at one point, a camera pans over his naked torso while Andrea explains that he has a "charm to him when his clothes were on" (Hansen told Insider that they used a body double for Dennis during the pool scene).

The insults didn't perturb Hansen though, as the actor said he's practiced at separating his characters from himself.

"I don't feel that way about myself. I don't think they feel that way about me either, but with a little bit of the gut and the teeth - and just his personality is a little off anyway - so I think that makes him a little unattractive at times," he said.

Hansen enjoyed portraying Dennis so much, in fact, that he said he'd love to reprise the role in a "Good on Paper" sequel.

"I will actually gain the real weight if I get to do a sequel and jack up my teeth for real," he said with a laugh.