Bumble. Tinder. Billion-dollar valuations. Disney+ and Hulu’s upcoming film Swiped dives into the origin story of two of the world’s most famous dating apps — and Whitney Wolfe, the woman who had a hand in shaping both.
Watch the trailer above and read on for details.
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Swiped follows Lily James as Whitney Wolfe, a determined young entrepreneur who crashes into the tech scene, helps create Tinder, then gets pushed out — only to come back swinging with another vision for a dating app: Bumble. According to Wolfe’s Wikipedia, when she took Bumble public, she became the world’s youngest female billionaire at the time. The trailer shows both her rocket-like ascent and the fallout that comes with shaking up an entrenched industry.
Whitney Wolfe’s journey from Tinder to Bumble
Wolfe resigned from Tinder in 2014 and subsequently filed a sexual harassment lawsuit against Tinder and its parent company, IAC. The case was reportedly settled a few months later for an undisclosed sum, with some indicating Wolfe received just over $1 million. Forbes has an interesting article covering a good amount of this period. We’ll see what the film tackles when it comes to Wolfe’s departure from Tinder.
“Young people don’t date online. If we break through that stigma, suddenly we have complete market share of all millennial dating,” Wolfe declares early on in the footage. Later, she pitches with steely confidence: “Just give me $600 and a plane ticket, and I will come back with the next Fortune 500 company.”
There’s also a peek at the messier side of dating app culture — from the rise of unsolicited explicit messages to tense boardroom battles over moderation. “I built Tinder with them, and they can just delete me,” James’ Wolfe says, before launching Bumble as a space where women call the shots. The footage ends with her rallying a crowd: “My name is Whitney Wolfe, and I’m starting a revolution.”
It’s certainly cut to fire up an audience, but whether Swiped offers more than a founder-friendly victory lap remains to be seen.
Cast, creatives, and release date
Directed by Rachel Lee Goldenberg (Unpregnant, Valley Girl), the film is co-written by Goldenberg, Bill Parker, and Kim Caramele. The cast includes Jackson White, Myha’la, Ben Schnetzer, Pierson Fodé, Clea DuVall, Pedro Correa, Ian Colleti, Coral Peña, and Dan Stevens — the latter potentially stealing scenes as a Russian businessman.
James also produces alongside Jennifer Gibgot, Andrew Panay, Gala Gordon, and Sarah Shepard.
Swiped will premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 9 before streaming on Hulu in the U.S. and Disney+ internationally from September 19.
