Have you binged My Life with the Walter Boys on Netflix yet? The show is based off of a 2014 Wattbook by Ali Novak and follows a teenaged girl named Jackie Wilson (played by Nikki Rodriguez) who ends up in the care of the Walter family, a family of 10 sons, in rural Colorado after a family tragedy. There, she meets Alex Walter (Ashby Gentry) and troubled Cole Walter (Noah LaLonde) — leading to a love triangle, naturally.
J-14 sat down with both Ashby and Noah, who revealed their reactions to booking their roles, meeting Ali and what to expect from Netflix’s newest YA hit. Keep reading to see our exclusive interview!
“I was in the Dominican Republic in a hotel room, and I didn’t really have an appropriate concept of what the show was,” Ashby told J-14 exclusively. “I didn’t have access to the book and I later went on Goodreads, and that’s how I figured out it was a love triangle and that I was a part of the love triangle.”
As for his reaction booking the role? Well, rap music was involved.
“I put on rap music and danced around my hotel room for two hours straight because I was so happy,” he laughed. “So that’s what I did. After I got the call, I turned it off, put my speaker on, put on Drake and then danced around my hotel room for two hours and then showed up in Canada and filmed a show for six months.” Love that.
For Noah, his reaction was a little different from his costars — and in a very different setting.
“Mine was very different. No Dominican Republic, no rap music, no dancing,” Netflix star said, before revealing he was working a shift at his restaurant job in Los Angeles at the time.
“I was on a shift and it was the middle of the day. It was a slow lunch. I got a call from my manager that said, ‘Your Zoom went out during the last audition, so they need you to record another scene right now. They said, you have five minutes to get on Zoom.’ I was at work and I literally took this guy’s order and [then left].”
He continued, “So I go to my car, I’m sweating. I have no setup. They’re like, ‘Well, do you have the sides still?’ I get on the call, I was like, ‘I don’t have the sides. Can you resend them?’ And they’re like, ‘No, that should be fine, because you got the part.'”
“They should know that we stole a lot of little moments from the book — these very small details,” Ashby revealed. “And I’d be curious if anyone picks up on when they’re watching the show.”
Noah revealed that the cast was even also able to meet Ali while on set.
“I think the readers of the book, the essence is there, the heart is there, the family, the love. You’ll feel like you’re in the same world,” Noah gushed. “There are some changes here and there, but I think ultimately it’ll be a nice transition for anybody that enjoyed the book or Wattpad version or any other iteration.”
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