Having become the latest inspiration for an ever-growing biopic subgenre about tech entrepreneurs of the 21st century, Whitney Wolfe Herd is conflicted about Hulu‘s Swiped.
Although the Bumble founder and CEO hasn’t seen the film and is open to Lily James‘ portrayal of her, now available to stream after its TIFF premiere this month, she admitted she asked her lawyer to “shut it down” two years ago.
“So, I can’t make it through the whole trailer; it’s too weird for me,” she told CNBC. “No, I’m not involved in it. Frankly, I was informed about this movie after it was already off to the races. I think they had already written the script and done all these things.
“I even was asking my lawyer two years ago, ‘What do I do? I don’t want a movie about me. Shut it down!’ He was like, ‘There’s nothing you can do. You’re somewhat of a public figure. There’s public information out there, they’re going to do what they’re going to do.’”
Herd continued, “I don’t know if I’m going to watch it or not. I’m obviously both terrified, and maybe slightly flattered? But I think the strangeness and the fear of it outweighs any flattery. Listen, we’ll just see. I guess I gotta get some popcorn and stay tuned. But I am honored that they chose Lily James, she’s a talented actress.”
James called Herd “visionary” as she opened up about how “really inspiring” it was to play the Bumble boss to Deadline at TIFF. “I obviously knew about both apps, Bumble and Tinder, but I had no idea there was this woman right at the kind of epicenter of them, and I was bowled over by her story,” she said.
“And I went down a rabbit hole, obviously, of research and learning everything I could about her, and I’ve found her to be truly inspiring and a trailblazer,” James continued. “It’s been a really meaningful experience getting to kind of step into her shoes and recreate and dramatize this story in our film.”
After incurring the wrath of Pamela Anderson over the mere decision to portray her in Hulu’s Pam & Tommy (2022), James previously teased she was “done” playing real people, or at least “no icons.”
