Lily James on Producing Her First Feature Film With ‘Swiped’: ‘I Wanted to Be Part of the DNA’

Lily James, who stars as Bumble founder and CEO Whitney Wolfe Herd in the upcoming film “Swiped,” unpacked her decision to shift into producer mode for the film, highlighting how the tech exec’s inspiring story made her want to be part of its creation.

“When I came on board, there was this really beautiful gear change in my career because I’m producing on this too,” James told TheWrap’s Emily Vogel at the Toronto International Film Festival on Monday. James has previously EP’d on TV series, but “Swiped” marks the first feature film she’s produced.

“I really wanted to be part of this film and the storytelling, given it’s about Whitney — one of our great female entrepreneurs of her generation and time,” James continued. “I wanted to kind of be part of the DNA of this project. So, brilliantly was able to produce and work on the script and kind of get on board from that early stage.”

“Swiped,” directed by Rachel Lee Goldenberg, is a biographical drama about Herd and her journey to launch the dating apps Tinder and Bumble. It stars James, Dermot Mulroney, Dan Stevens, Clea DuVall and more.

When it came to what was the most important to her in terms of producing, James said “every part.”

“Every music choice, everyone in crew, casting, all these sort of decisions, which I was glad to be part of, was so galvanizing for me,” she said. “And to have some agency and lean on the really experienced people that we were working with … In terms of storytelling, I would fight for everything I believed in. It’s always wins and losses and compromise in making a film and it’s better for it. It was pretty delicious.”

Along with Herd’s accomplishments, the film will also highlight the unique challenges she faced as woman in trying to build a company in a male-dominated industry and the experiences many women face when using dating apps to meet a partner.

“This is exploring really big themes, gender equity and gender dynamics and politics online and in-office,” James explained. “How women are silenced, the many ways that women have been silenced. So I felt a huge sense of responsibility and just showing up fully with an open heart to really explore these issues and hopefully just offer of something that the audience can then experience and make their own decisions and decide how they feel.”

She added: “I hope it can inspire and galvanize a lot of people, women, to go after what they want and believe in and to recognize that sometimes those things that feel like they might destroy us, or the darkest moments in our life, can actually be used for something good and powerful.”

“Swiped” made its debut at TIFF and lands on Hulu on Sept. 19.

Catch up on all of TheWrap’s TIFF coverage here.

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