Best Performance Nominee Josh Burdett Talks ‘Modem’ and Its Multiple Raindance Film Festival Nominations
Actor Josh Burdett, known for his work in Oscar-nominated ‘Loving Vincent’, ‘Warhunt’, ‘Angels Fallen: Warriors of Peace’, Hulu original ‘Find Me in Paris’ and ‘The Twisted Tale of Amanda Knox’, is celebrating an exciting moment in his career as he receives a Best Performance nomination at the Raindance Film Festival for his role in ‘Modem’.
Written and directed by Tim James Brown, ‘Modem’ has received nominations for Best UK Feature, Best Horror Feature and Best UK Cinematography for David Meadows, as well as a Best Performance nomination for Josh Burdett. The horror film follows a family who rent a house in the Swedish forest for a digital detox holiday, only for everything to change when the protagonist’s teenage stepdaughter discovers a modem. When it is connected to Wi-Fi, it awakens a dormant and sadistic demon.
Josh has recently returned from South Africa, where he filmed ‘The Mystery of the Golden Spear’, the latest instalment in the ‘Miranda Green Mysteries’ franchise alongside Mischa Barton. In recent years, he has worked closely with Cuba Gooding Jr and Denise Richards in ‘Angels Fallen: Warriors of Peace’, Grace Van Patten in Hulu’s ‘The Twisted Tale of Amanda Knox’, and he also appears in the upcoming ‘Gandhi’, directed by acclaimed filmmaker Hansal Mehta.
Reflecting on what attracted him to ‘Modem’, Josh says: “After meeting with the director, Tim James Brown, I knew it was going to be a great experience to work on ‘Modem’. He brought together an incredible crew and cast and there was a sense of adventure that we would be filming deep in the pristine Swedish forest.
I also felt a real connection with Michael, the character I play in the film. As a society, we are addicted to social media and to constant access to Wi-Fi. We know it has its dark side as well, yet we can’t relax unless we know we have some sort of signal. The film explores that conflict to the max!”
The actor admits that seeing ‘Modem’ become part of the Raindance Film Festival and receiving a Best Performance nomination came as a wonderful surprise.“It is so exciting for us all that ‘Modem’ is part of the Raindance Film Festival. It has taken so much hard work by many people, especially Tim James Brown, whose incredible energy and commitment has pushed the project from its conception all the way through to where we are now. A special mention also goes to our editor, Charlie Marbles.
As for being nominated for Best Performance, it was such a surprise when Tim called me to let me know. I feel so flattered and, in some disbelief about it really, but very grateful and excited. I’m mainly looking forward to a reunion with the cast and crew, to having the chance to celebrate the Raindance experience with them, and to being able to share our film with audiences.”
Filming ‘Modem’ proved to be one of the most memorable experiences of Josh’s career.
“This was one of those special filming experiences. We were off-grid deep in the forest outside Gothenburg and so were together as a cast and crew more or less constantly for a month. We were a big family by the end of it. I love filmmaking because it’s the ultimate team environment and this was no exception. There were so many memorable moments, from battling ticks in the forest, to swimming alone in pristine lakes, to our Art Department making a sideline horror film about a doll that kills each member of the cast and crew – we all enacted our own deaths in character!”
The film also carries a message that Josh hopes audiences will connect with. “I hope people enjoy how beautifully shot this film is, thanks to our Director of Photography, David Meadows and his team, as well as the locations where we filmed. Maybe people will see themselves reflected in it somehow. Despite so much natural beauty around us, we seem to want to disappear into our phones or computers and, in that world, there’s a lot of darkness.”
Looking ahead, Josh is also excited for audiences to see ‘The Mystery of the Golden Spear’.“We only just finished filming ‘The Mystery of the Golden Spear’, the latest instalment in the ‘Miranda Green Mysteries’ franchise, and I’m really excited about it already. I think audiences will love it. It will hopefully be distributed by Lionsgate at some point next year, so watch this space!”