Lily James on Producing 'Swiped': Wanted to Be "Part of the DNA of Telling This Story' | TIFF 2025 - video Dailymotion

Hollywood Journal

Lily James stops by THR's TIFF suite at the 1 Hotel in Toronto to talk about producing her first feature film 'Swiped.' She touches on the story of Whitney Wolfe Herd, who launched the dating apps Tinder and Bumble, and explains how Herd revolutionized how people engage online, how men and women interact and ultimately how we date now.

Transcript

00:00I had no idea that this woman, Whitney, was a part of both of these apps at a moment in

00:05tech history where these apps were exploding and really was a part of how we revolutionized

00:11how we engage online, how men and women interact, and how we date now, and so I was just completely

00:18sort of like, wow, who is this person?

00:25The first thing that happened with this movie was I was sent the script

00:28and was bowled over by this woman, Whitney Wolf Heard, who our story is about, and her

00:36achievements and who she is as a woman and what she overcame and then what she put out into the

00:43world as a direct response to her experiences felt so profound. And so I then came on board and as

00:53things developed, it became clear really quickly that I also wanted to produce so that I could be

00:58really a part of the DNA of telling this story. I didn't know anything really about her story. I

01:05knew about, obviously, Tinder, the dating app, which is humongous, and I knew about Bumble, which is

01:11Whitney's app that she founded. But I had no idea that this woman, Whitney, was a part of both of

01:18these apps at a moment in tech history where these apps were exploding and really was a part of how

01:25we revolutionized how we engage online, how men and women interact, and how we date now. And so I

01:32was just completely sort of like, wow, who is this person? And this story should be told. It's an

01:39important story. It's an inspiring story. And yeah, it's really kind of been very profound in my life,

01:47taking on this role. I was just so shook to my core that there was this really young woman in her 20s.

01:55And this is pre-MeToo, you know, that when this whole event happened, the way in which she was treated

02:04online and in the media, and the narrative that was put out just was inexcusable and so upsetting.

02:13And but I guess what what's so wonderful and what we focus on in the film is like these brilliant,

02:21courageous kind of once in a generation people, they take those experiences and make something good

02:27out of it. And creating Bumble, which she did, which is puts women in the driver's seat and endeavoring to

02:36make the internet safer for women. So that the girls that come after don't have to hopefully experience

02:45what she and many women have been through and in similar instances. So it's a really, it's really

02:51powerful. You guys show her really having a hard time after she was like pushed out of Tinder.

02:56But then she pretty quickly and miraculously like channels it. And I was like, okay, something for

03:05me to work on, like, not wallowing when something happens. But like, how good are you at like,

03:12like, where do you fall on the spectrum of like, you know, being able to channel?

03:16I think, you know, what's amazing as an actor is you're continually given these opportunities to

03:22channel experiences that you've had into your work. And it can be deeply cathartic.

03:27I also think we can give ourselves some grace. It's okay to have, you know, if something difficult

03:33happens to you in your life challenging, you're allowed to, and you should, I think, you've got to

03:38let it move through and you've got to lean into it. And then hopefully, all these experiences are

03:43teaching us something about ourselves. And it's what we do with it that really matters. So

03:47there's definitely good lessons in there. Yeah, I'm on, I'm on a journey with that stuff.

03:53If you've had like, even just like a crazy day, what do you reach for at the end of the day?

03:56Like, is it candy? Is it an episode of Friends?

03:59Oh, I love Friends. I just, I just, I definitely watch Friends. I recently was watching it one Sunday

04:04rainy afternoon in London, just like last weekend. I love, I kind of, a creature of comfort in that,

04:10like, if I can just climb into bed with a hot chocolate, or like, it often involves chocolate.

04:17And I like to feel kind of cozy. And, and for me, I like to get out of a city. If I'm having a tough

04:27time, I need to be, kind of see the horizon and be in nature and get a bit of perspective, clear your

04:32head. Talk to me about the, like, creating this character, but she's also obviously a real person,

04:38but you're not playing exactly, you're not mimicking it by any means. But like,

04:41where was that line? And even just like from her, like the accent?

04:44Um, well, no, you completely nailed it. I was trying to embody the essence of, of, of this

04:51character of Whitney and kind of do justice to her story, but bringing all of my own self to it and my

04:56own interpretation. Um, but I did spend hours and hours, um, watching her and I would watch,

05:06there's an amazing masterclass that she does, which is brilliant. I implore everyone to watch

05:10it because it's very inspiring. And I would sit in front of the TV and I would stop and pause and I

05:15would like, and I would slow down YouTube clips, um, so that I could talk alongside her and mimic her

05:21hand gestures. And often it's, it's about a kind of a rhythm and a pace of speaking her from watching

05:29her. Something I was really picked up on is how fast her brain is going and how many thoughts she's

05:33having and how much impulse there is in her to kind of act and make a change. And so there's a

05:38kind of speed and an energy to the rhythm of how she speaks. And she doesn't, it keeps, she keeps,

05:43she speaks faster than I do. Um, so I was trying to capture things like that, which are clues about

05:48the human. I loved your chemistry with my holla in this. And I also loved like, I feel like she got

05:54to have a lot of fun with her look, but as a producer, can you tell me anything about like what

05:59your conversations were about like kind of what her character should be, the hairstyle, et cetera?

06:04Oh, my, my holla like came up with that whole look. We had an amazing team. We had, um, the same

06:11hair and makeup team actually that I worked with on Pam and Tommy, who are just formidable Barry and

06:15David. And then we had our amazing, um, costume designer Beth and, and obviously alongside our

06:21director, Rachel, they kind of created each character. And I'm, I thought that was so cool. It was

06:26very, um, you wanted her to feel like kind of, uh, she had her band and a whole energy outside the tech

06:32bro space so that she brought that in with such life and kind of power. Um, I mean, but that time

06:40it was, it was when I first did my costume fittings, I was like, wow, these skinny jeans,

06:44and this is not a good look for me. I'm going to really struggle with this fashion. And Beth,

06:50our designer did a great job at kind of making it feel so authentic and real, but also

06:56elevating it. So it felt kind of cinematic and, um, cool. And it's an important,

07:00you know, cause that moment it's in our, such a recent history, but how different it was with,

07:06with how fast tech has progressed and how fast things are moving even quicker now with AI.

07:10It's like, um, it was important to get a kind of very retro feel, even though it's our very recent.

Lily James on Producing 'Swiped': Wanted to Be "Part of the DNA of Telling This Story' | TIFF 2025

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