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James Gunn’s The Suicide Squad may not be doing so well at the box office, but it’s not as though no one’s seeing it. After all, it is playing for free on a very popular streaming service, where it’s reportedly doing gangbusters. Wherever the truth lies, it’s definitely one of the renegade comic book movies, which is to say it gleefully ignores and subverts a lot of the genre’s tropes. But it almost went even farther than it did, and it was already pretty far out.

In a new interview with Script Apart (as caught by Entertainment Weekly), Gunn admitted that he almost had the posse of anti-heroes fight a different baddie in the end: Superman. He didn’t elaborate, but even though the protagonists of the Suicide Squad movies are not exactly heroes, they tend to do battle with those (arguably) worse than they are. So the Man of Steel might have gone bad. Again.

But Gunn decided to go with Starro, the giant kaiju starfish, partly because he was one of his favorite villains:

“He’s a character I love from the comics. I think he’s a perfect comic book character because he’s absolutely ludicrous but also very scary in his own way. What he does is scary … He used to scare the crap out of me when I was a child, putting those facehuggers on Superman and Batman. So I thought he was one of the major, major DC villains that was probably never going to be put into another movie. And if they did, it’d have been a ‘black cloud’ version of Starro. Not a giant walking starfish, a kaiju that’s bright pink and cerulean blue, this ridiculously big, bright bad guy.”

Besides, the time was not right to make Superman evil: Things were a little chaotic at the DCEU then (and, frankly, now). “At the time, there were a lot of questions like, ‘Who is Superman in the DCEU? Is this movie outside the DCEU?’, and I just didn’t want to deal with it all that much,” Gunn said.

Too bad — one of the bright spots of the fairly troubled Superman III is the part where Supes goes bad, stops shaving, gets hammered at dive bars, etc. Bring that guy back.

(Via Script Apart and EW)

The NFL, like every sports league, enters every season with some new points of emphasis for their officials. These are usually put in place to try and combat something that got out of hand the year prior as players are quick to recognize when things are and are not getting called and take advantage accordingly.

This year, though, the point of emphasis for the NFL isn’t a crackdown on some kind of actual illegal play, but an attempt to cut down on taunting on the field by adjudicating those moments with unsportsmanlike conduct penalties. If this sounds like it is sure to result in some terrible calls that drive fans insane, well you would be correct. Already this preseason we have seen flags come out for some weak taunting penalties — balls being spun, etc. — but Sunday in the Colts-Panthers game we got the worst one yet when Colts back Benny LeMay got hit with a taunting penalty for rightfully flexing after dragging the pile for 10 yards.

LeMay doesn’t seem to do anything beyond get up, have a brief word for the defender he just took for a ride, and turns excitedly to celebrate what was a sensational run, but he still gets hit with a 15-yard penalty. It is baffling that the NFL would decide that people want to see more flags like this rather than fewer, as if the majority of fans are aghast at a man flexing a little bit after a play. There are certainly moments where players will cross a line with taunting, but it’s one of those “you know it when you see it” things. A guy being fired up about a run and doing something as innocuous as what LeMay did here certainly doesn’t fit that criteria and if the NFL keeps flagging stuff like this all season, it is going to be a long one for fans who will quickly grow tired of flags and frustrated by what is sure to be selective enforcement.

Things aren’t going so hot for Johnny Depp. A respected actor who became arguably the biggest movie star in the world, he’s now all but verboten in Hollywood, even kicked off of franchises mid-stream. So it’s not too surprising that, some nine months after losing his sensational libel suit, he thinks Hollywood has a full-on boycott against him.

In a new interview with the Sunday Times (as caught by Deadline), Depp discussed his latest film, Minamata — which Americans won’t be seeing any time soon. The biographical drama, in which Depp plays Time photojournalist Eugene Smith, just opened in the U.K. But the film’s director, Andrew Levitas, claims that MGM, which owns the rights, is “burying” it due to his scandals. (MGM has denied this, saying it’s still on their docket.) Depp didn’t address that claim, but he did suddenly bring up his career woes while raving about the movie.

“Some films touch people,” he said. “And this affects those in Minamata and people who experience similar things. And for anything… For Hollywood’s boycott of me? One man, one actor in an unpleasant and messy situation, over the last number of years?”

Depp reportedly trailed off after that, but he did add, “But, you know, I’m moving towards where I need to go to make all that… To bring things to light.”

What could that mean, exactly? We may find out before anyone in America sees Minamata. In the meantime, there’s only one other upcoming project on Depp’s IMDb page: an animated TV series called Puffins, in which he voices a bird named Johnny Puff.

(Via Sunday Times and Deadline)

Billie Eilish has started a brand new era with the release of her sophomore album, Happier Than Ever. The project was led by a group of singles that include “NDA,” “Lost Cause,” and “Your Power.” After the album debuted at No. 1 on the album charts last week, Eilish’s second album reclaims its position atop the Billboard 200.

The second-week success of Happier Than Ever is thanks to 85,000 album units sold, a number comprised of 49,000 streaming equivalent album units while pure album sales make up 36,000 of its second-week sales. With Eilish’s latest album spending a second consecutive week atop the album charts, it makes her the second artist in 2021 to have an album spend its first two weeks at No. 1. The only other artist or group to do this is Morgan Wallen, after the now controversial musician’s sophomore album Dangerous: The Double Album achieved the same feat earlier this year.

Another highlight on this week’s chart is Nas’ King Disease II, which checked in at No. 3 thanks to 56,000 album units sold. This makes it the rapper’s 15th top-10 album of his career and his highest-charting release since his 2012 album Life Is Good.

You can revisit our review of Happier Than Ever here.

This weekend, Free Guy finally came out. The high-concept comedy, in which Ryan Reynolds plays a video game extra who becomes aware of his grim lot in life, was one of a number of blockbusters delayed by the pandemic, its release date moved four separate times. And while its box office is understandably modest, it still opened at #1, grossing slightly more dough than last week’s winner The Suicide Squad. It opened well enough that Disney, the company that took it over after they absorbed Fox, has already greenlit a sequel, according to Reynolds himself.

Reynolds being Reynolds, he broke the news in the most him way possible: with couldn’t-resist sarcasm. “Aaaannnnd after 3 years messaging #FreeGuy as an original IP movie, Disney confirmed today they officially want a sequel,” he wrote, adding, “Woo hoo!! #irony”

Reynolds even had an idea of what to call it, taking a cue from one of supporting player Taika Waititi’s ad-libbed lines.

Free Guy isn’t only the first Disney product they’ve dropped in theaters only, not for PVOD on Disney+. As Reynolds pointed out, it’s also a too rare example of an original IP. Well, not anymore. Now it’s a franchise. So mazel tov! And we’ll see Free Guy 2: Albuquerque Boiled Turkey one of these years.

NASCAR went to Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Sunday to run the road course and what ensued was nothing short of sheer chaos. There were numerous wrecks in the same spot, as one of the curbs wrecked havoc on the field, at one point leading them to completely get rid of the curb after it caused this massive wreck that saw Joey Logano get sent into the tire wall inside the infield.

The good news was that the curbing that caused a bunch of wrecks was gone, but the bad news was there was another curb inside of that which had now been turned into a ramp, leading to a crash almost immediately after the red flag was lifted.

After another red flag, the race began again and on the restart, things got so bunched up that Chase Briscoe, running up front with Denny Hamlin, would be unable to make the turn and recognizing he was too wide, he decided to just drive straight through the grass like it’s Mario Kart. From there, he would let Hamlin get in front and then spun Denny, ending his chances at a win, while Briscoe had a penalty to serve himself for the grass detour.

Briscoe would then just pull off to try and serve his penalty on a different corner (which isn’t how that works) in what was truly one of the strangest final laps NASCAR has seen in years.

Briscoe would explain after that he thought he might get away with that maneuver initially, and that he didn’t wreck Hamlin purposefully which few were buying.

It was a wild scene that saw AJ Allmendinger pick up the shocking win and punch his ticket to the playoffs, but the talk of NASCAR will be about the disaster that was the final few laps of that race, from curb issues to Briscoe seemingly losing his mind on the last lap and completely swinging the race and some playoff dreams.

Earlier this month, Barack Obama celebrated his 60th birthday with a star-studded celebration at Martha’s Vineyard. The party made headlines days before it began after the former president and his team were forced to cut back on the number of invitees due to COVID-19 concerns. Some, like the hosts on Fox & Friends, were quite happy that Obama had to scale back his party, while others let Curb Your Enthusiam jokes fly after Larry David was uninvited from the event.

The bash made headlines again after Erykah Badu posted, and quickly deleted, a video from the event to her social media page. The clip showed attendees without masks, which caused many to criticize the former President and First Lady for not practicing safer measures for the party — despite the presence of a medical professional who was enlisted to make sure all CDC, state, and local pandemic protocols were followed, according to People.

Due to all the commotion that came as a result of her video, Badu hopped on Twitter to apologize for her actions. “Mr. And Mrs. Obama , Please forgive me 4 being the ‘terrible guest’ at such a sacred event for your family,” she wrote. “I was so inconsiderate, Thank you for all your love. What an example of ‘how NOT ‘ to be …… erica.” When someone asked if the Obamas forced her to remove the video and apologize publicly, she replied, “Naw sis. It’s just right thing.”

NBA Summer League can be a fascinating place because of the varying situations players find themselves in coming into Las Vegas. Some are there on a guaranteed contract to get some reps and try to stay healthy, while others are there fighting for their professional lives in the NBA.

Sometimes, that latter group can be a bit overly aggressive, and it can lead to some dust-ups, as we saw on Sunday in Cox Pavilion when Eugene Omoruyi and Chimezie Metu both got ejected in the fourth quarter of the Kings-Mavs game. Omoruyi shoved Metu while he was in the air, which Metu was understandably upset about and so when he popped up and confronted Omoruyi, he also gave him an elbow punch to the neck/jaw before teammates stepped in to separate the two men.

It isn’t a great look for anyone, as Omoruyi commits what is one of the worst offenses any basketball player can make in shoving a player in the air when he’s at his most vulnerable. Metu probably shouldn’t toss a punch, either, but it’s also understandable why he was so upset, particularly considering what happened last year when he got slung to the ground by Jonas Valanciunas after landing on his shoulders after a dunk and broke his wrist.

Lizzo should be celebrating a good moment in her career as she just released “Rumors” with Cardi B, her first single in almost two years. Unfortunately for her, however, negative comments Lizzo read on social media pushed her to tears that were captured during a recent Instagram Live session she held.

“For the most part, it doesn’t hurt my feelings. I don’t care,” she said during the livestream. “I just think when I’m working this hard, my tolerance gets lower, my patience is lower, I’m more sensitive and it gets to me.”

The Cuz I Love You singer continued to address the “people who have something mean to say about you” for the remainder of the livestream. Once a clip of Lizzo’s words landed on social media, Cardi B arrived to defend her on Twitter.

“When you stand up for yourself they claim your problematic & sensitive,” the rapper wrote. “When you don’t they tear you apart until you crying like this. Whether you skinny,big,plastic, they going to always try to put their insecurities on you.” Cardi added, “Remember these are nerds looking at the popular table.”

You can watch a video of Lizzo’s livestream and view Cardi’s response above.

Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Last summer, rock band Whitney released their fourth project, Candid, which arrived as a 10-track album filled with covers. Now, a year removed from that project’s release, Whitney is gearing up to share a new project with fans, but not before hitting the road for a new tour. The band shared the news on Instagram with a post that explained their next chapter and revealed the dates for their upcoming string of performances.

We’ve missed y’all. This fall we will be touring some of our favorite rooms in the US. These intimate shows will mark the beginning of a new chapter in our project. New songs and new sounds will be presented with a focus on being in the moment. We’ll be bringing a new stripped-back lineup with us, as well as one of our fav new artists Renée Reed (@thereedyriver) — We’re excited to share this experience with you <3.

The band’s upcoming tour will begin on September 30 in Portland, Oregon and continue for a little over a month before coming to an end in Boston, Massachusetts on November 6.

You can view the group’s announcement for the tour in the post above and the full tour dates below.

09/30 — Portland, OR @ Revolution Hall
10/1 — Seattle, WA @ Webster Hall
10/4 — Solana Beach, CA @ Belly Up
10/7 — Los Angeles, CA @ Gold Diggers
10/8 — Palm Springs @ The Alibi
10/10 — Santa Barbara, CA @ Lobero Theatre
10/11 — San Luis Obispo, CA @ SLO Brew Concert Hall
10/12 — Santa Cruz, CA @ Rio Theatre
10/18 — Ft Collins, CO @ The Coast
10/19 — Boulder, CO @ Fox Theatre
10/21 — Denver, CO @ Globe Hall
10/22 — Aspen, CO @ Belly Up
10/27 — Philadelphia, PA @ World Cafe Live
10/28 — Asbury Park, NJ @ Asbury Lanes
10/29 — Washington, DC @ Capital Turnaround
10/30 — Providence, RI @ Columbus Theatre
10/31 — Kingston, NY @ Old Dutch Church
11/6 — Boston, MA @ The Sinclair