‘Lost on a Mountain in Maine’: An Interview with Director Andrew Boodhoo Kightlinger 

Lost on a Mountain in Maine tells the incredible true story of a 12-year-old boy who becomes separated from his family while hiking on a mountain and must traverse 800 miles barefoot to find his way home. It’s an inspirational story about the importance of family and faith. (Read our review here.)  

We recently chatted with director Andrew Boodhoo Kightlinger about how his experience as a missionary kid in Madagascar prepared him to make the movie, the importance of family and faith, and what he hopes viewers will do immediately after leaving the theater.     

(Note: This interview has been edited for length and clarity. Watch the full conversation above.)      

Daniel Blackaby: How did you become attached to this movie and what made you think, “I need to tell this story”?  

Andrew Kightlinger: Sylvester Stallone’s company got the rights to this true story. They were looking for somebody who had wilderness prowess and who came with a certain earnestness about the world. It ultimately culminated with me being flown out to Northern Maine, to Baxter State Park, and hiking the titular mountain. That mountain is known as the hardest non-technical day hike in America. It kicked my butt a little bit, but I made it to the top. I got the job soon after.  

DB: You grew up in Madagascar, where your parents were missionaries. Was there anything about that upbringing that you were able to bring to this story?   

AK: I think in a myriad of ways. My parents were medical missionaries for the Lutheran Church for 30 years. They worked in villages and remote places in the rainforest a lot of the time, sometimes weeks on end. My dad would backpack into these villages to do vaccination clinics and whatnot. And with every vaccine, you’d get the book of John. 

When I read the script, I’d never heard of the story before. But what I related to was my childhood and a lot of walking around barefoot. I wasn’t raised in a boarding school. I was raised in the bush with Malagasy children. I grew up barefoot walking through the rainforest with other kids, so I immediately latched on to this kid alone in the forest walking barefoot. That was my visual entry point. 

Beyond that, this is the type of movie you don’t see anymore. When I was growing up in the 80s and early 90s, we had these movies, White Fang, Alaska, Black Stallion, Empire of the Sun, even The Goonies to some degree. These movies had a certain optimism and taught people something good about the world. And so that’s what I latched onto. I’m going to make one of these. We’re going to shoot a lot of it practically and build the sets. And it’s going to be nostalgic. And at the same time, it’s hopefully timeless in a way that can be watched for decades to come with families.  

DB: Throughout this film, you intercut interviews with the real figures that were involved in this, almost giving it a documentary feel. What was the thinking behind including some of those real-life archival elements?  

AK: That decision was made in the editing process. As we made the film, that archival footage was used to write the movie. The movie is not a direct adaptation of the book upon which it is based, because that’s a first-person POV of the kid alone in the woods. But we also had the family story through these archival interviews. And we asked ourselves a question: “Why does the story matter?” And I think we started using the footage almost as chapter headings to guide the audience along and to remind you that this actually happened. A lot of the story beats in this movie could seem Hollywoodized if you didn’t know the context. To me, it was important for the audience to know that seemingly unbelievable things actually do happen in real life. And the triumph of the human spirit is a real human thing. That’s why we ended up incorporating those.  

DB: On the surface, this is like a boy vs. nature survival story. But in many ways, this is more about family and the relationship dynamic between a father and a son. How important was that relationship component to you?  

AK: It was everything. Survival movies are a dime a dozen in my opinion. What’s more important is the why behind it all. I have a very good relationship with my father. I think that parent-child dynamic, no matter what age you are, is very important. And in the end, when the stakes are high or when hope seems lost, what is the thing you cling to? In my head, it’s your family, it’s your faith, it’s those kind of bedrock things. Those are the things that keep you going. To make a movie about a boy who ultimately just wants a hug from his father, that’s really what the movie’s about for me. In a time where movies try to overindulge or are very cynical, I wanted to make a movie with a very pure message, which is to say “I love you” to your kids, because it can save their life.  

DB: This is not a preachy religious movie, but the characters are people of faith. Donn, the little boy that gets lost on the mountain, says some honest prayers throughout this film. What role does faith play in this story? 

AK: You touched on it with my upbringing. Madagascar is a country that’s basically split 50/50 between Christianity and Islam. There’s also animism in villages and things. I saw firsthand how a message of hope and healing and family can bleed through everything. 

I’m an ecumenical thinker when it comes to religion. I went to college at a private Lutheran college and was in a Lutheran choir, and I saw how faith transcends everything if you let it. My goal with this movie is that anybody of any faith or belief can be touched by this idea that believing in something higher than yourself can bring you to salvation.  

There is a spirit character in the film that I think can be divisive in some way. But to me, that is God in any way that you want to see it. It can be the Christian God, but it can also just be that thing children sometimes cling to, the fantasies we create to survive and cope with a traumatic situation. I wanted to keep it universal. It’s not in your face. It’s very much there, and you can do what you want with it as an audience.  

DB: There’s a lot of beautiful shots in this movie. There is almost a tension between the danger and things that threaten to kill you in nature and a primal joy of being a boy out in the wild. 

AK: Everybody has a different idea of what God is. I believe in a benevolent God. For me, nature represents God. For me, nature was meant to be this benevolent being. It’s scary at first, and there’s this awesome power. But it’s benevolent and it’s kind. And that was important. We shot a lot of this on location in the woods with natural light, a Terrence Malick vibe. This movie doesn’t have a bunch of manufactured spectacle. I call it an emotional epic. It’s a very grounded movie, both literally and philosophically.  

DB: What do you hope audiences take away with them? 

AK: Thank you for asking this question. I feel that movies can redeem people in a way. And I don’t mean that religiously; I just mean every movie is an opportunity for redemption. 

My goal is that after the credits roll, a parent will immediately call their child or a child will call their parent and tell them, “I love you.” That is why I made the film. That’s why people should go see the film.  

DB: Thank you for taking the time to chat about this movie.   

AK: I really appreciated your questions.