The script of Swiped came to me as an actor. I didn't know the story and I didn't, you know, it's always really exciting when you get a true story where you go, "Holy that's really incredible and I had no idea." And I felt immediately very drawn to Whitney Wolfe as a as a formidable entrepreneur but also like what she experienced on a very personal level and how she overcame these setbacks to become who she is. I found that story very inspiring and human and then uh Then it was like, "Well, then there was Swiped again." Like life was crazy. And then it came back around and I jumped on as a producer, too. And that was kind of how the whole project then evolved from that. There was a almost this kind of beautiful experience of like life and my state of art in terms of I was playing this, you know, very powerful entrepreneur who kind of built this empire really and changed the game in as a very very young woman. And so then to And obviously I'm changing game and all >> >> as a to then sort of be, you know, to take this role but also produce. So I had more of a say at the table and more agency in conversations. Felt like kind of it was almost a great acting exercise as well as something that was happening in my own life anyway. I've spent the last few years building Paradise Productions, my production company, and you know, being a part of the conversations in terms of how we built the team, who we hired and cast, and also the script and the creative creative discussions. You know, that felt really exciting and and kind of necessary for a story like this. And you know, however, Jen Gibgot who produced this has been working on it for 7 years and so really you know, I came on and it was really great to be involved but I can't take too much credit. Well, the movie is entirely sourced from the public domain and due to legal strains, you know, Whitney wasn't involved and I wasn't able to reach out to her in any way, shape or form, and so the film was developed because the creators and the filmmaker and writer were inspired by her story and wanted to to shine a light on her experience and her success. And it felt like a really important story. You know, particularly at the end of the way what happened to Whitney is is a part of a large pattern of what I was drawn to was how women are silenced and NDAs are, you know, used to and weaponized against women. And there's a crazy statistic in like 2022 America, like one in three women are under it some sort of NDA in the workplace. And so that felt urgent. It's culturally something we're really talking about right now. And so um we had to handle this really delicately. And so and I was very aware of the nuance of the situation and the responsibility in taking on this role. And again, that's why if I was going to do this, I wanted to produce and I you know, it was a it was a learning experience and there was some real challenges involved in that, you know, honestly, but I I was saying that the the team involved were collectively trying to do something that we believe really mattered and tell a story about a woman who is in chief achievements deserve to be honored and celebrated and hopefully inspire kind of women to come, particularly in the in the tech space and business spaces and entrepreneur And you know, I was so thrilled as someone who's spent so much time learning about Whitney Wolfe and trying to kind of create my version of her and assimilate kind of some of her qualities to me, which I'm deeply honored to have played her and and I hope to hold on to a lot of what I learned. I think the way that she fights to protect women on an online and on the internet, She campaigns for that continually is is is is very um admirable, important, inspiring. Um and equally though, to be so victimized by the press and the bullied and a narrative that isn't your own or the truth to be widespread and to still come out swinging and change the game and own who you are and create something that matters. She is just so um powerful and I was drawn to that part of the story. I think it's so fun as an actor to have a big physical transformation and to morph and and even small ones. You know, like it it to sit in your costume fitting and to have go through a hair and makeup journey. You know, recently I I just worked in a kind of TV show called Harmonia and I have a character called leader and I had this jet black long hair. And even that, like and then you stand in the costume and you feel the kind of the energy in your body changes and you're like, oh, I need to stand like this and feel like this and create this rhythm of a character and and and and physical changes help with that so much and and the blue eyes I love wearing contacts. I love looking in the mirror and not seeing me. Um it feels like freedom. That's my you know, and and and allowing this character to sort of sing through and take front front seat, you know, and um um they're all tools in creating a character and you know, with Winnie it's probably not as obvious. Um particularly like in comparison to like when I play Pat Madison, but um I spent a lot of time studying her mannerisms and her energy and how she speaks and you know, the biggest thing to me was the speed of her brain. Those thoughts are coming in a minute many of us now and how she connects the dots and how she's so so deeply empathetic and a leader to like draw you in and not that it's a mercenary thing, but she that's one of her powers, right? And she can see a problem and fix it and and read the room and and and and enlist people into her ideas and her vision and that speed of thought was something I um don't have. I wanted to really replicate. Um so I studied her as much as I did when I was working on on Pam. Yeah, there's definitely a a tone to this film. >> You know, like I I I I tend to when talking about it, we talk about the bigger themes and the and the kind of the issues that we were tackling, but also there's a real kind of um energetic, explosive, sort of like propulsive feeling to the film. It's meant to feel really fun, like these young kids like starting these apps and getting all this power and all this money and and the kind of like the rock and roll nature of that that was very specific to that moment in in in the tech world and apps exploding and um and we wanted that to feel really jubilant and young and kind of silly and um celebratory. Um like a Beatles-esque feel when they were like, you know, having their kind um initial success and there was like a sort of childlike joy. I I don't think there was that much improv. Um the script was pretty dialed in. Um but certainly we had a lot of fun with that stuff. Cuz I felt to honor the highs, you have to really like delve into the lows. And that was a balance that was sort of like figured out in the edit that um you know, is the kind of filmmaker's choice and but I think that you have to have those comedic moments to really then um like keep you on board. >> >> I feel so lucky to be an actor and to explore stories that matter to me and if they can have some sort of impact and provoke a conversation and to not shy away from the controversy when you know that you're doing something for the right reasons and to to like honor a story that matters. That to me is a privilege to be able to do that and I hope to continue to kind of push the boundaries of what I explore in my work and that's part of the reason now that I have a production company is to like take agency in the stories that I want to champion and um and to kind of contribute in some way um So, this set time did feel kind of risky and um playing real people has its own kind of um you know, it stands as a sort of whole weight to that and a responsibility that I that I recognize and don't shy away from. So, I hope to do work like that. I think I I'm I would be lucky to continue to do that. I was like, "Please, can you be in this movie >> >> and took him for breakfast. Oh god, he's such a good actor. And I'd I've watched him from afar since the Downton Abbey days in the work and the career that he's kind of built for himself, the roles he plays with such versatility and he feels very unafraid to shy away from like bold material and bold roles and very transformative as an actor. So, when we were talking about who to play as Andre Andre in this film, we would just hoped that he would do it and I'm so grateful that he said yes and it was great to reunite with him. It was very special. The same the same thing as Downton. It's like, "How is that real?" That That's you know, that that shouldn't be allowed that you can have that much fun and be paid to do it. >> >> You're like singing basically do like six weeks of karaoke on an island and with Abba songs like with Meryl Streep. I mean, it was bonkers and I love those actors so much. Appears who I then did clip hanger with me. So, again that was a moment where I'm going, "Please, hi. Get your and just the greatest man. God if we could all be like a pair of socks then I mean and so brilliant and he's like so so excellent in our film. Yeah, that was the best. I hope I can do the next one. I mean I I don't know maybe it's already happening and filming and I didn't get the call. I used to always go to a musical for my birthday growing up. That was my kind of present and and I went to see Mamma Mia like three or four times for my birthdays. It was my favorite show. So when that audition came around it was like it almost felt kind of meant to be, you know, and I didn't have to prepare anything. I knew every song. I knew every you know word of it. So yeah, that was special. Pretty pretty serious. >> >> I mean I didn't climb without a rope as it will seem in the movie that I did wear a safety rope. >> >> But no I I I got really into it and I have to say other than acting that's something that I'm like woah. I want to keep doing it. The kind of mental um clarity I I when I was learning I learned on a on on in the mountains. I didn't go into a bouldering gym. I did it all for real and I did like 6 weeks and had the coolest teacher in Ibiza and I realized I didn't have one like a thought in my brain. And my brain goes quiet. It's like a flow state and that is to kind of state and then the physicality that came along with that the how how strong I got it was I think people that learn to climb become climbing addicts. Like it's really the community is so cool and we tried to really envelop them into the film to give it as much kind of authenticity and feel as real as possible. I really loved it. Yeah. I I like videos of our director John M. Chu that are like hand going like this across the rope to get from one side of a mountain to the other over like a death drop. Like and he is pretty pretty scared. >> >> We went to the craziest locations to shoot that. It was um quite dangerous I think maybe.