Ryan Cook, a Waterville native, plans to audition young actors in Waterville on Thursday to play the role of Fendler in the movie based on the 1992 book “Lost on a Mountain in Maine.”

Fendler became separated from other hikers on Mount Katahdin in 1939. While hundreds of volunteers searched in vain for him, Fendler used his Boy Scout training and followed a stream until finally reaching safety.

His story was retold last year in a graphic novel called “Lost Trail, Nine Days Alone in the Wilderness.”

Now 85, Fendler tells the Morning Sentinel he hopes the movie will inspire tenacity in children.