SWIPED

October 3, 2025

Lily James, Dan Stevens, Myha’la, Jackson White, Swiped, Rachel Lee Goldenberg, Swiped

Photographs by GREG WILLIAMS
Words by JANE CROWTHER


Hollywood Authentic follows Lily James on-set in LA of her first producing project – the biopic of Bumble founder and self-made billionaire Whitney Wolfe Herd – and to the premiere on hometown soil in London. James tells us about the challenge of playing her ‘absolute hero’.

Lily James, Dan Stevens, Myha’la, Jackson White, Swiped, Rachel Lee Goldenberg, Swiped

‘I’ve always been hugely protective of the characters I play,’ Lily James tells Hollywood Authentic as she welcomes us into her trailer on the LA set of Swiped in early June 2024, her inaugural project where she leads the cast as well as produces. ‘But this is on a bigger scale.’

Exec-producing alongside her partner Gala Gordon and producers Sarah Shepherd, Jennifer Gibgot and Andrew Panay, Swiped tells the story of Whitney Wolfe Herd’s phenomenal rise as a co-founder of Tinder before leaving in 2014 to establish Bumble and becoming the first woman to take a company public at the age of 31. James’ Downton Abbey colleague Dan Stevens co-stars as Wolfe Herd’s business partner in the film which releases this week. Rachel Lee Goldenberg directs a script written by herself, Bill Parker and Kim Caramele the film tracks period of time at Tinder and then continues on as she goes onto build bumble becoming at the time the youngest women ever to take a company public. As a production team, the decision was made to use publicly available information to tell this story with a highly experienced research team. They never reached out to Whitney. James herself (seen below with acting coach Leigh Kilton-Smith) became obsessed with reading, listening, and watching everything she could about Wolfe Herd.

Lily James, Dan Stevens, Myha’la, Jackson White, Swiped, Rachel Lee Goldenberg, Swiped

‘She was the youngest woman to ever take a company public,’ James says of the Wolfe Herd, transforming into her via blue contact lenses and her signature engaging voice. ‘This is based on her incredible journey to make the Internet safer for women and create a safe space where women can make the first move in their lives and in relationships.’

Lily James, Dan Stevens, Myha’la, Jackson White, Swiped, Rachel Lee Goldenberg, Swiped

Wolfe Herd built Bumble as CEO and founder, taking the company public in 2021, stepping down in 2023 as a billionaire, trailblazer and innovator. She is something of an inspiration to James who describes her as ‘brilliant’ as she gets ready to film scenes in an office building dressed to look like Tinder HQ. James climbs onto a huge furry ‘E’ in her Wolfe Herd businesswear and loafers. ‘Her superpower is that she makes everyone around her feel safe and comfortable – and fall in love with her. Because she listens and is empathetic to her core. That’s what makes her a great leader and someone people want to follow and work with.’

Lily James, Dan Stevens, Myha’la, Jackson White, Swiped, Rachel Lee Goldenberg, Swiped

James is spreading her own leadership wings with her producer hat on – alongside other projects she is developing under her company, Parodos – but is enjoying the challenge. ‘Every day genuinely feels like a fight to make sure that I’m fully happy with everything.’ Bowing at TIFF, Swiped premiered in James’ hometown of London on an overcast day in September where Greg Williams caught her dodging the rain in Soho on her way to the Mayfair Curzon. Like Wolfe Herd, James is enjoying the moments of being a female leader in a male-dominated industry… 


Photographs by GREG WILLIAMS
Interview by JANE CROWTHER
Swiped is available on Disney+ and Hulu now

hollywood authentic, greg williams, hollywood authentic magazine

TRENDING

Gangs of New York, Sandy Powell

SANDY POWELL

The award-winning British costume designer who regularly reteams with the cream of directors tells Arianne Phillips about starting out

Athina Rachel Tsangari, Caleb Landry Jones, Dracula, Frank Dillane, Harry Melling, Harvest

CALEB LANDRY JONES

The American chameleon tells Hollywood Authentic about honing his highlands accent for Harvest and

BUY

You may also like…

lucy boynton, the pale blue eye, the ipcress file, chevalier, hollywood authentic, greg williams, greg williams photography

LUCY BOYNTON

How important is a little bit of nonsense now and then to you?A daily necessity for the sake of sanity. What, if anything, makes you believe in magic?Every show at The Magic Castle in LA – especially the magician with the lemons. You’re dressed to the nines yet feeling like a total kid, watching wide-eyed in

Adria Arjona, Dakota Johnson, Michael Angelo Covino, O-T Fagbenle, Splitsville

ADRIA ARJONA

When Hollywood Authentic meets up with Adria Arjona and her Splittsville castmate (and co-producer) Dakota Johnson in a suite at the Majestic Hotel on the Cannes Criosette…

marianne jean-baptiste, michele austin, mike leigh

HARD TRUTHS

Words by JANE CROWTHER Some of the hard truths at the heart of Mike Leigh’s latest fall easily from the mouth of Pansy (Marianne Jean-Baptiste), a misanthrope London mother and housewife whose daily diatribe at, and about, other people hides a crushing depression and self-loathing. When she’s not furiously polishing the leather sofa in the lounge,