Whitney Wolfe Herd tried to ‘shut down’ her biopic Swiped, which has just been released on Disney Plus.
The 36-year-old entrepreneur, who is the founder of the dating app Bumble, did not want her life story and rise to become the world’s youngest billionaire to be told on the big screen.
Shaking her head when asked about the new film, Wolfe Herd told CNBC: ‘I can’t make it through the whole trailer, it’s too weird for me.
‘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.’
She then revealed: ‘I even was asking my lawyer two years ago, like, “What do I do? I don’t want a movie about me. Shut it down!”’
However, Wolfe Herd’s lawyer had bad news for the businesswoman, as she recalled them telling her: ‘“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.”’
Wolfe Herd, who also co-founded Tinder, admitted she felt both ‘terrified’ and ‘slightly flattered’ about the movie; she also does not know if she is going to watch it yet.
The CEO added: ‘I think the strangeness and the fear of it outweighs any flattery. So, listen, we’ll just see. I guess I’ve got to get some popcorn and stay tuned.’
One facet of the movie she has no problem with though, is the casting of Mamma Mia actress Lily James, also 36, to play her.
‘I’m honoured that they chose Lily James. She’s a very talented actress,’ Wolfe Herd said.
Swiped, which also stars Dan Stevens, Industry actress Myha’la, Jackson White and Dermot Mulroney, is directed by Rachel Lee Goldberg and tells the real-life story of its subject’s journey from recent graduate to pioneering entrepreneur, overcoming sexism and industry resistance as she creates Bumble after being ousted at Tinder.
Meanwhile, James recently said she felt ‘guilty’ and a ‘bit of a fake’ starring in Swiped, as she has never used a dating app.
‘I feel guilty and a bit of a fake playing this creator of these apps, having never really done it,’ she said during an appearance on Late Night with Seth Meyers.
To get an idea of what it is like being on a dating app, the star used her friend’s phone to ‘research’ for the newly-released movie.
She also revealed that her brother had met his wife Stacy on a dating app.
She continued: ‘A lot of actually doing this movie, you kind of ask around, you speak to people – one of the long-term producers on this film had met her then partner on Bumble – and it’s pretty profound.’
And James – who dated 42-year-old former Doctor Who star Matt Smith from 2014 until 2019 – said she has always preferred to meet people in person.
The Cinderella actress added: ‘I am scared that we are losing this – a lost art of seeing someone in the bar and just catching their eye and going over.
‘I hope that that doesn’t disappear.’
Swiped has received a rocky reception so far from critics, with the biopic only managing a score of 37% on review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes.
‘It’s far too shallow of a movie for such an important subject,’ read Newsday’s review, while The Times observed: ‘The director and co-writer Rachel Lee Goldenberg never fully attacks and instead shifts skittishly between a Devil Wears Prada-style you-go-girl success story and the tougher darker film that occasionally emerges.’
‘There’s a deliberate unseriousness to Swiped, from Dan Stevens’s vaguely absurd Russian accent and indie boy fringe as Andreev, to the depiction of 2010s culture as all playground slides in the office and black tights with sneakers,’ added Clarisse Loughrey for The Independent, while also branding it ‘half film, half Bumble advert’.
However, viewers so far have been more enthusiastic, with Rebecca W writing: ‘EXCELLENT movie. I was totally enthralled from start to finish. Great production, fantastic acting, important story. I highly recommend it!’
‘This film may not get it perfect, but it certainly zooms in on a very uncomfortable, but accurate, piece of being a woman in these environments. It’s a hard thing to palpably describe and if this film did one thing powerfully, it was that. I hope that’s what the women who watch this take from it – that abuse is coded in so many shades, it can feel impossible to see.
‘I think Lily James, and the writers, did their job there. Period. I’d recommend this to any woman, but really any person, trying to take a magnifying glass to their career, and the nuances of their role within it. The responsibility, really. Kudos to this team,’ shared Summer B.
Swiped is streaming on Disney Plus now.
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