Interview with Rachel Lee Goldenberg and Bill Parker of Hulu's "Swiped"

This year's Toronto International Film Festival was one for the books, with probably the most sprawling, diverse slate the festival has ever seen. Out of the hundreds of films that premiered at TIFF this year, one of them was Hulu's Swiped, a biopic about Whitney Wolfe Herd, the founder of Bumble and co-founder of Tinder. Starring Lily James and Dan Stevens, the film deals with the harassment Wolfe faced while at Tinder, and the obstacles she overcame to become part of the mere 17% of tech CEOS who are women. Last week I got the chance to sit down and speak with the film's Emmy winning writer/director, Rachel Lee Goldenberg and writer/editor, Bill Parker. We talked about this year's festival, their next ambitious project, what it was like working with gay icon, Clea Duvall, and more!

Courtesy of Rachel Lee Goldenberg

Rua: "Hello, thank you both for joining us today. First of all I want to say congratulations on the release of Swiped! How does it feel to have a film under your belt on such a big platform like Hulu?

Parker: "I'll just speak for myself, I am such a big movie theater guy. I'm a big proponent of the theatrical experience, that communal experience that we all get when we go to the cinema. So you know, there are pros and cons to going right to streaming, one of the pros being that your film is now at the fingertips of 30 million people with the click of a button! It's been really exciting to experience that on a personal level.

Goldenberg: "I think the thing that felt the most different from our previous films was the TIFF premiere, because the last couple movies I made came out during the pandemic so they had some strange premieres. So to actually be in a theater with like 1700 people watching felt so much more special than previous ones."

Rua: "Yeah, I went to my first TIFF last year and there's such a palpable energy in the air. I can't imagine what it's like to have a film premiere there, you should both be incredibly proud of yourselves. So Swiped is your first film that's largely nonfiction, so how did making this film differ from your last feature, Unpregnant?

Parker: "Y'know there are pros and cons to telling something that's real or fictional. Sometimes limitations can help creatively because when anything can be anything you kind of get caught in a loop. Whereas when you have that framework of a true story, it helps you stay focused. But on the other side of the coin sometimes you really want your character to do a certain thing but that's not what happened in real life so you gotta find a way to make it work."

Goldenberg: "Yeah like 'why couldn't you have done this thing in your life that would be better for us narratively?' It was sort of a back and forth between feeling the responsibility of telling a real person's story and aiming for the film we wanted to make. In your head you keep thinking: 'what's this person gonna think when they watch it? What is this other person gonna think?' But you need to give yourself some artistic space from that."

Rua: "Rachel, I was wondering your thoughts on this. While she was rising through the ranks of the tech world, Whitney was sort of a fish-out-of-water, often being the only woman in the room because tech is such a boys' club. I was wondering if there was a part of you that identified with her as a woman in film, which in a lot of ways is still a boys club."

Goldenberg: "Yeah, you're touching on exactly the reason why I wanted to make this film. I read her story, familiarized myself with it and so much of the story felt familiar to me. Y'know, sort of that tension to fit in and trying to push against the status quo and how much fun it is to succeed in a field you're not supposed to succeed in. So when I saw those details in Whitney's story, I felt like we were telling her story but there's so much of my own in there as well."

Rua: "Well, as a woman in film thank you for all you do. Your passion truly shows in this movie. Now, because Swiped is such a character-driven story, how important was it that you found the right actress to play Whitney?"

Goldenberg: "Oh, it's so important; it's everything! I was a fan of Lily James from her work in Pam and Tommy, I just thought it was a really gutsy role and I wanted someone who was willing to dig deep. So when Lily read the script and said she was into it, I was beyond excited!"

Rua: "Just to indulge my inner nerd here, please tell me what it was like working with Clea Duvall."

Parker: "I mean, incredible! It took five years to develop this script and at one point her role was much larger. It's funny you kinda fall for your own characters sometimes and I just always had a deep fondness for her. To get Clea Duvall for this project, even just a small role was just perfect, she's exactly what I was picturing. I wish we could make a sequel following that character."

Goldenberg: "Yeah, and her role in the film is sort of playing the devil on Whitney's shoulder, so having someone so undeniably cool play her really helps add weight to her argument."

Rua: "See, I can always judge whether or not I'm gonna like someone based on how they feel about But I'm a Cheerleader. Now as two industry professionals, I was wondering if there are any 2025 releases you've particularly enjoyed?"

Parker: "Well you see our next project involves the first female astronauts at NASA so we've just been so entrenched in that for the past few years. There was a new documentary this year called Sally that really celebrated her story. I really appreciated the way they handled her story in that documentary, it was fabulous!"

Rua: "I saw that at South By Southwest, it's easily my favorite documentary of this year."

Goldenberg: "Bill gave a really well-reasoned, meaningful answer and my answer is that I just loved the new Naked Gun so much. I couldn't believe how silly it was, it brought me a lot of joy. It came out at a time where I was working a lot and stressed so it was just a much, much needed film."

Rua: "I cannot stop thinking about that line 'like an idiot's finished jigsaw puzzle, I'd been framed.' I'd love to hear more about this NASA project you have coming up, can you tell us a little bit about that?"

Goldenberg: "Yeah, it's an adaptation of The Six by Loren Grush and it's about the first class that allowed female astronauts. After many years of exclusively white men, there were six white women, three Black men, and one Asian American man for the first time. It's sort of about the camaraderie and competition that they went through during their training and how they navigate that."

Rua: "It seems like a real common thread between all your films is a real emphasis on female-centered stories, ever since your first project, Unpregnant. Is that something you always wanted to pursue or did that just happen?"

Goldenberg: "You're phrasing it in a way that's more specific than I've thought about it before so well done, thank you, I'll use that from now on. I get excited to make films that can include those things. And so, you know, when I had an abortion and then didn't talk about it for years and then realized that was a mistake and started wanting to talk about it, then this film came along and it was like an opportunity to do that. Since I started my career, but specifically since Me Too, like I've been talking with friends, including Bill and I've had countless discussions about sort of navigating the industry as a woman and the trade-offs and complications that come with that. one of the things that we have been really excited about with The Six is that just getting to have so many rich female characters in the same film allows you to play with people's personas and the ways that they can trust.

Rua: "Well thank you for sharing that and thank you for your vulnerability. I know I'll be keeping an eye out for The Six when it comes out. Now, because you both are in the industry and watch a lot of film, I was wondering if you have a single favorite movie?"

Parker: "it's extremely cheesy, but I just have to be honest in that it's It's a Wonderful Life with Jimmy Stewart. I grew up in a small town called Seneca Falls, where everyone is convinced Bedford Falls in the film is based on Seneca Falls. And so for literally, everyone in the town, it's their favorite movie and thus, it became my favorite movie. But I do love it because it's a great movie as well."

Goldenberg: "Thelma and Louise is the film that I've watched the most times as an adult and I revisit it when I'm going to make a film and usually get something new out of it. It's just like a real firing on all cylinders of incredible story, incredible performances, beautiful shots. It's just, you know, it's a good one."

Rua: "Am I correct in assuming it had a lot of influence on Unpregnant?"

Goldenberg: "Yes, very, very much so."

Rua: "Amazing. Well thank you both so much for speaking with me today, I can't wait to see what you two do next!"

We'd like to thank Mr. Parker and Ms. Goldenberg again for appearing on our publication this week. Swiped is currently available to stream on Hulu. Thank you for tuning in Cinemasters.net and remember to never stop watching!