&34;I can't make it through the whole trailer, it's too weird for me,&34; said dating app creator Whitney Wolfe Herd. Bumble founder tried to get Swiped biopic

"I can't make it through the whole trailer, it's too weird for me," said dating app creator Whitney Wolfe Herd.

Bumble founder tried to get Swiped biopic shut down, but is 'flattered' by Lily James casting

"I can't make it through the whole trailer, it's too weird for me," said dating app creator Whitney Wolfe Herd.

By Ryan Coleman

Ryan Coleman

Ryan Coleman is a news writer for with previous work in MUBI Notebook, Slant, and the LA Review of Books.

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September 21, 2025 10:18 p.m. ET

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Lily James in 'Swiped' and Whitney Wolfe Herd in 2018. Credit:

20th Century Studios;Bennett Raglin/Getty

Whitney Wolfe Herd, the founder of the dating app Bumble, doesn't know if she's ready for the Hollywood treatment.

The tech entrepreneur's unprecedented rise to become the world's youngest billionaire provided the basis for the upcoming film *Swiped*, which cast *Cinderella *star Lily James in the Herd-inspired central role.

"So, I can't make it through the whole trailer, it's too weird for me," Herd told CNBC in a Friday interview.

"No, I'm not involved in it," she continued, confessing, "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, like, 'What do I do? I don't want a movie about me. Shut it down!'"

Herd recalled her lawyer responding, "'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.'"

So, *Swiped *is coming whether Herd wants it or not. But if she can't even make it through the trailer, will she buy tickets for the full film?

Lily James fights Tinder's 'pervasive dick pics' in first trailer for 'Swiped'

Bumble responds to Sharon Stone being blocked from dating app for 'fake' profile

"I don't know if I'm going to watch it or not," she said. "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."

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The first trailer for *Swiped*, which released last month, charts a rise similar to Herd's, from early start to co-founding the popular, pre-Bumble dating app Tinder. But when Herd's female coworkers begin to pass along concerning reports from Tinder's female users — "there's an article about how pervasive the dick pics are"; "they report and nothing happens" — she pivots to "change the rules of online dating" and create her own app.

Though James' character literally says, "My name is Whitney Wolfe" in the trailer for *Swiped*, director Rachel Lee Goldbenberg told *TIME* on Friday that "*Swiped* is inspired by, not based on. We're shaping that research, and using as much truth and accuracy as we can, and then also focusing on the emotional truth" of Herd's story.

James has participated in bringing other real-life stories to the big screen. In 2023, she portrayed Pam Adkisson, the wife of professional wrestler Kevin Von Erich, the kingpin of the Von Erich dynasty played by Zac Efron in *The Iron Claw*. In 2021, she played the archeologist Peggy Piggott in *The Dig*, which dramatized the 1939 excavation of the ancient Anglo-Saxon cemetery Sutton Hoo in England.

Lily James in Paris in 2025.

Francois Durand/Getty

Most controversially, she portrayed Pamela Anderson in the 2022 limited series *Pam & Tommy*, which focused on the chaotic time in the *Baywatch *star's life in which her sex tape with former partner Tommy Lee was leaked. At the time of *Pam & Tommy*'s release, Anderson told * *via a representative that she'd "never, never watch this. Not even years from now. Not even the trailer."

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Source: "AOL Movies"

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