Lily James on Swiped & Being In The Public Eye Report by Mccallumj. Like us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/itn and follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/itn
00:00I can't remember life before it's Glen Powell.
00:02There's such power in it.
00:04People love to judge.
00:05Lily James, hello.
00:07Hi.
00:08We're here to talk about Swides, but before we start,
00:10let's just cast our minds back seven Glen Powell summers ago
00:14to the Guernsey Literary and Potato Prime.
00:16I can't remember life before it's Glen Powell.
00:18I mean, who does?
00:19Let's not go back.
00:20Who wants to remember before Glen Powell?
00:23But I just want to say, I love that movie.
00:24Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie.
00:27It took me many years to work out.
00:28You absolutely nailed it.
00:29You do it better than me.
00:31Those kind of movies like Whiskey Galore and Passport to Pimlicore,
00:34and that's a lifeblood of British cinema.
00:36It doesn't get talked about enough, so let's talk about it now.
00:38I agree.
00:39It's a good film.
00:40I think it's on Netflix.
00:41It's on Netflix.
00:42Watch it now.
00:43Watch it now.
00:44Maybe.
00:45I could be wrong.
00:46I'm here working for ITN, so watch it on ITV if it's ever on again on there.
00:49All right.
00:50Let's talk about some of the films we've made since then,
00:53like Little Woods, The Dig, Iron Claw.
00:55You know, subtle dialogue-driven kind of movies,
01:00rather than the kind of explosive sci-fi fantasy that seems to dominate the box office these days.
01:05So I wondered, is this kind of by design?
01:09What drives your choices?
01:11Oh, I'm drawn into story and character.
01:18I guess that's probably why I've been led more by the films you mentioned to me are just great roles to sink your teeth in to as an actor.
01:31Having said that, I'm really keen to do bigger genre, like, you know, to enter into a sci-fi or fantasy or whatever.
01:39And I've got a few things I'm looking at in the coming years that will be more in that vein,
01:44because it's exciting to sort of, like, transform and sort of lose yourself into a different world.
01:53Yeah.
01:54I mean, they're doing more.
01:55I know it's not sci-fi, but it's fantasy.
01:56They're doing more like Lord of the Rings movies.
01:58Get into one of those things.
01:59Yeah.
02:00And then you can go to every Comic-Con.
02:01Yeah.
02:02For, like, for decades.
02:03That's a good earner.
02:05Speaking of things I like, I'm a big fan of the tech biopic, you know, the Social Network and Steve Jobs and We Crushed,
02:16which is a good TV show recently.
02:17Yeah, I loved that.
02:18Blackberry was awesome.
02:19Yeah.
02:20Why is it do we like these kind of stories?
02:23What fascinates audiences into these types of people in these types of worlds, do you think?
02:28Well, tech, there's such power in it, and things move so fast and have such huge impact.
02:36Like, culturally, shift culture in such a profound way.
02:41And I think these apps, when they're successful, and therefore the founders behind them,
02:48these, they, like, take off, like, the speed of light, like a rocket ship.
02:52And so the speed of growth, the impact they have, the money that's made, it's kind of, it's fascinating.
03:00And I was so excited to get to play, to explore that with a woman at the heart of it all, you know,
03:08and someone that had such great, great success.
03:11So, yeah, it's intriguing.
03:15It's, and, and, and it, and, yeah, yeah.
03:18I think things move so fast these days that whenever there's something that becomes such a big part of the zeitgeist,
03:23it feels like you're watching, like, a historical thing, even though it might have happened, like, two or three years ago.
03:28I know.
03:29Which is quite fascinating.
03:30Yeah.
03:31Let's talk about Whitney Wolf a sec.
03:32Whenever you do, like, a, a bio of someone who's still alive, there is that, like, frisson of, like,
03:37oh, what they're gonna think because they're still there and we're telling her story.
03:40But this is a unique situation where she's, like, legally not allowed to tell her own story in a way.
03:46Uh, which just made me wonder, like, how much, like, did you ever, did you guys ever talk?
03:51Do you know if she saw it?
03:52Yeah.
03:53What her thoughts are on it?
03:54Or is it, is there just a big wall between this piece of work and, and the reality of her experience of it?
04:00Well, I don't know and I can't speculate and I, um, everything in the movie was sourced from the public domain
04:06and we had an incredible research team who did such a great job at, like, formulating the story
04:12and bringing it to life through our script.
04:14And then there was, of course, artistic license in a sense that we were dramatizing the story.
04:18I always say it's my version of Whitney, you know.
04:21Um, but, um, I loved learning about her, not only through her professional career
04:29and her kind of brilliance as a leader and entrepreneur, but also through her experiences on, as a more, like, from a very woman, human point of view.
04:41And what she overcame, um, how she channeled something, um, negative into something so positive and had real impact.
04:51That, to me, as a story, is so valuable.
04:53And before I get kicked out, the whole channeling, uh, to, to, to make an impact.
04:58There's a scene in the film when she goes against advice to give her real thoughts on what her kind of business partners are up to.
05:04Mm-hmm.
05:05And it made me think there's a bit of a parallel between your world where people in the public eye get browbeaten into being scared to share what they really think
05:13because of bad press, bad publicity, just, you know, rage online.
05:17Mm-hmm.
05:18So I wondered, uh, quickly, like, how that, how you feel about that?
05:23How do you stay true to yourself whilst also being aware of the kind of the shackles that are upon you?
05:29Well, I think there's a difference, you, you, you know, there's like a public, if you're talking about people in the sort of public eye,
05:36there's like a public version of you and then there's your private version of you.
05:39Mm-hmm.
05:40And they're two separate things, so you don't have to be all things in both.
05:42Um, but I think it's always just really important to live with authenticity and integrity
05:47and make sure that you are, when you need to, using your voice to stand up for what you believe in
05:52without fear of, of judgment or being torn apart, which is very hard in today's society and culture
05:58because people love to judge.
05:59Mm-hmm.
06:00Um, but that's why people like Whitney are such trailblazers and have such courage.
06:05And, and, and she, if you read, if you learn about her and read about her online,
06:09she's, it seems to me, her sharing her vulnerability is, is very inspiring for other people.
06:16There's such power in that and it's very brave.
06:18Well, nicely put.
06:19Yeah.
06:20I really enjoyed the movie.
06:21Yeah.
06:22I look forward to seeing you in Middle Earth.
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