The daily gossip: Nicole Richie releases rap album about loving Mother Earth, Nicolas Cage is going to play a dragon, and more

1. Nicole Richie releases rap album about loving Mother Earth

Nicole Richie dropped a rap album, Unearthed, under the moniker of her nature-loving musical persona, Nikki Fre$h (also the name of her comedy series on Quibi). Richie touches on topics like food waste, clean water, plastic, and saving the bees. In "Bee's Tea" she raps, "A pesticide homicide and we'll be soon to follow, cause if these bees are gone today then we'll be gone tomorrow." Not everyone loved the album — multiple tracks feature voicemails from friends and family expressing concern, including dad Lionel Richie, Ben Lovett of Mumford & Sons, Mila Kunis, and sister-in-law Cameron Diaz. Nikki Fre$h doesn't let the haters stop her. As she sings on "We Are a Garden," "Try to bury me alive, but I'm a seed, b--ch."

Instagram

2. Nicolas Cage is going to play a dragon who drinks 'obscene amounts of vodka'

If there's one constant even during the COVID-19 pandemic, it's truly wild Nicolas Cage castings. Case in point: on Friday, The Hollywood Reporter revealed that Cage will star in and produce the new Amazon series Highfire. Cage will be voicing the lead character, a "TV-loving dragon who lives in seclusion in the Louisiana bayou" drinking "obscene amounts of vodka." Add this to the list of extremely Cage-appropriate roles the actor has on the docket alongside Tiger King's Joe Exotic and ... Nicolas Cage. We can only hope this dragon role will involve motion capture, Smaug style. In fact, footage of such a Cage motion capture performance may end up being more entertaining than the actual show.

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The Hollywood Reporter Deadline

3. Amy Adams joins feature adaptation of Dear Evan Hansen

Amy Adams is ready to remind us she has the voice of an angel with her role in Dear Evan Hansen. Adams will play Cynthia Murphy in the feature adaptation of the Tony-winning musical, writes The Hollywood Reporter. The actress previously showed off her pipes in Enchanted and The Muppets, but this time around we'll see her in a darker place, as she plays the mourning mother of a teen who kills himself. The cast also includes Ben Platt, Kaitlyn Dever, and Amandla Sternberg. With Adams in the role, fans on Twitter are demanding her character's song "Bedroom Down the Hall," (which was cut from the musical) be included in the movie. More singing from Adams is always a good thing.

The Hollywood Reporter

4. An X-Files spinoff is coming

The spinoffs are out there. An animated comedy spinoff of The X-Files is in the works at Fox, and original series creator Chris Carter is set to produce, TVLine reported on Friday. The show will reportedly be called The X-Files: Albuquerque, but no, don't expect David Duchovny or Gillian Anderson to be involved. It will reportedly revolve around the "X-Files' B-team," agents who investigate the cases "too wacky, ridiculous or downright dopey" for Mulder and Scully. Animated comedy spinoffs of drama shows are apparently becoming all the rage, with this coming after Star Trek: Lower Decks. For those fans crossing their fingers that this one will end up being good, we want to believe, too.

TVLine Variety

5. Chrissy Teigen ate so much sour candy her 'tongue is falling off'

Chrissy Teigen's nightly snacking on sour straws and Blow Pops is taking its toll on her tongue. The pregnant model warned squeamish fans to look away before sharing videos to her Instagram Stories showing the discoloration of her tongue and bits that had come off on her fingers. Apparently, she is in such pain from the sour snacks that she can't even eat a bowl of noodles in peace. "I think I have to put Saran Wrap around my tongue or something," she mused. But the pain won't keep her away from sweets — if you have any candy recommendations, she'd love to hear from you!

E! Online