Twilight Eclipse’s Victoria drama continues

Jul 30, 2009 by Ian Evans

The statements and counter-statements have begun to fly over the role of Victoria in The Twilight Saga: Eclipse.

First the film’s producers, Summit Entertainment, announced that the role of Victoria, played in the first two films by Rachelle Lefevre, would be played by Bryce Dallas Howard due to scheduling conflicts with her role in Barney’s Version.

On Wednesday, Lefevre released a statement that said, in part, that “My commitment to Barney’s Version is only 10 days. Summit picked up my option for Eclipse. Although the production schedule for Eclipse is over three months long, Summit said they had a conflict during those 10 days and would not accommodate me. Given the length of filming for Eclipse, never did I fathom I would lose the role over a 10-day overlap. I was happy with my contract with Summit and was fully prepared to continue to honor it. Summit chose simply to recast the part.”

Of course, Summit fired back, releasing a statement to Access Hollywood that said that, “We at Summit Entertainment are disappointed by Rachelle Lefevre’s recent comments which attempt to make her career choices the fault of the Studio. Her decision to discuss her version of the scheduling challenges publicly has forced the Studio to set the record straight and correct the facts. It was not until July 20th that Summit was first informed of Ms. Lefevre’s commitment to Barney’s Version, a commitment we have since been advised she accepted in early June. Summit had acted in good faith that she would be available to fulfill her obligations both in terms of rehearsals and shooting availability for The Twilight Saga: Eclipse. We feel that her choice to withhold her scheduling conflict information from us can be viewed as a lack of cooperative spirit which affected the entire production.”

It remains to be seen what Lefevre’s response to this latest volley will be. Rest assured that her agents, managers and lawyers are tossing rough drafts back and forth.