Twilight fans have been greeted by the news that Bryce Dallas Howard will be joining the cast for the third instalment in the series, Eclipse. As reported by Variety, the Terminator Salvation actress will be replacing Rachelle Lefevre in the role of the vampire Victoria. Keeping this personnel shift suitably vague, Summit Entertainment released this statement on its website:
“Actress Rachelle Lefevre, who portrayed the character in Twilight as well as the upcoming release of The Twilight Saga: New Moon, will not continue in the role due to scheduling conflicts with another commitment the actor has made.” Following this blurb, Erik Feig, Summit’s president of worldwide production and acquisitions, had this to say about the appointment:
“We are incredibly happy that Bryce has agreed to come into the franchise. Rachelle brought Victoria to great screen life and Bryce will bring a new dimension to the character. The franchise is lucky to have such a talented actress as Bryce coming in to fill the role.”
Now, ‘scheduling conflicts’ is a movie term that carries with it varied connotations. While we aren’t suggesting Rachelle Lefevre has been victim of a higher profile replacement ploy, you can expect the web rumour mill to spin this one out accordingly. At this time, Lefevre’s Twitter page is yet to be updated following this news.
New Moon is scheduled for release on 20 November of this year. Eclipse, which is being shot back to back with the aforementioned, opens on 30 June 2010.
