Bryce Dallas Howard on Replacing Twilight’s Rachel Lefere

Bryce Dallas Howard, who has acted in Spiderman and Terminator franchises, spoke up for the first time about her inherited role in “The Twilight Saga: Eclipse,” the third Twilight installment. She was just cast in the role of Victoria, which was played by Rachelle Lefevre in the first two films. Lefevre was supposedly fired for scheduling conflicts, and the firing entailed a good amount of back and forth quibbling over the internet between the actress and Summit Entertainment.

Lefevre told Access Hollywood that she was “stunned by Summit’s decision to recast the role of Victoria for ‘Eclipse,’” as well as “greatly saddened” that her portrayal of the role would be truncated.

Summit Entertainment responded by releasing their own statement, which stated:

Contrary to Ms. Lefevre’s statement, it is simply untrue that the Studio dismissed her over a ten day overlap. It is not about a ten day overlap, but instead about the fact that THE TWILIGHT SAGA: ECLIPSE is an ensemble production that has to accommodate the schedules of numerous actors while respecting the established creative vision of the filmmaker and most importantly the story.

What does Bryce Dallas Howard have to say to all this? She told The Examiner in a recent interview:

Rachelle [Lefevre] really created an incredible character and is exquisite. I fell like the uproar that occurred was really appropriate, because part of the joy of seeing a franchise, it’s almost like a television series. You’ve seen the actors grow with the franchise. And [Lefevre’s] unavailability [to do "Eclipse"] was really, really, really unfortunate. [...] She won that role for a reason. I hope to honor everything that she created.

I find an odd sort of contentment in how the makers of movies aimed toward 13-year olds are acting much like their target audience. This he-said, she-said ordeal is getting away with the art. It’s not about the actress but about Victoria, the nomadic vampire bent on revenge. While these two actresses can duke it out, we can’t let the real star get “Eclipse”-d.

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