LOS ANGELES -- And you thought that whole human-vampire-werewolf triangle was awkward.
Missing from the promotional tour for New Moon is Montreal-born Rachelle Lefevre, who reprises her role as the evil vampire Victoria in the Twilight sequel, in theatres Friday. Missing because this past summer -- just prior to the shooting of the third film, Eclipse, in Vancouver -- Summit Entertainment announced it was replacing her with Ron Howard's daughter, Bryce Dallas Howard (Spider-Man 3, Terminator: Salvation). A public feud ensued between the studio and the actress. Summit claimed she lost the role -- which is much larger in the third movie -- because of a scheduling conflict with Barney's Version, the Canadian indie she had signed for.
Lefevre, though, issued a statement saying the scheduling conflict was minor.
"Given the length of filming for Eclipse, never did I fathom I would lose the role over a 10-day overlap," she said.
Producer Wyck Godfrey, however, stands by the decision.
"It was simply because she wasn't available at the time we were set to make the movie and we found out a little bit too late in terms of her schedule difficulty. We couldn't change our schedule. We had a release date for this movie and we had to complete photography by the time we got to selling New Moon. The truth of the matter is we couldn't move our schedule around to get her in the movie."
Regardless of who's at fault, the recasting has left the remaining actors in the position of discussing working with Howard -- Eclipse wrapped earlier this month -- while also fielding questions about the controversy.
"It was definitely sad" when the news of the switch broke, says Taylor Lautner, calling Lefevre "great" and saying the whole cast loves her. "But Bryce is amazing. She's extremely talented and she's a great girl as well."
More Artists
