Dueling Statements on Lefevre Firing

Published by Jeff Leins on: July 30th, 2009

Yesterday Summit Entertainment announced Bryce Dallas Howard was taking over the role of Victoria in The Twilight Saga: Eclipse.  Apparently this was news to Rachelle Lefevre who played the villainous vampire in the first two Twilight movies.

The actress released a statement saying she was “stunned” by Summit Entertainment’s decision to recast the part.  Lefevre said she accepted a part in Barney’s Version because it was only a ten day commitment and she believed it wouldn’t interfere with the nearly three month shoot for the third installment starting to shoot in August.

“I was happy with my contract with Summit and was fully prepared to continue to honor it. Summit chose simply to recast the part,” Lefevre said in her statement.  (You can read the entire statement at Entertainment Weekly.)

Summit Entertainment sees it differently.  In their own statement, the small studio released a detailed timeline which contradicts some of Lefevre’s claims and defends itself against angry Twi-hards. It starts off saying, “We at Summit Entertainment are disappointed by Rachelle Lefevre’s recent comments which attempt to make her career choices the fault of the Studio.” They’re not messing around.  The statement continues by saying the other film puts Lefevre in Europe during rehearsal and the Twilight sequel’s first few days of photography in Vancouver with director David Slade, which means she might miss important preparation.  Victoria plays a key role as the main antagonist in Eclipse.

I still feel Summit is using the other film as an excuse to recast the part with a more recognizable and proven actress like Howard.  Perhaps they were tired of her “uncooperative” attitude in other situations.  I supposed we’ll never know the full story, but what’s done is done.

The studio replaced director Catherine Hardwicke after she started the series off to strong box office numbers last year.  Chris Weitz and Slade will each continue to build on that potential this November and next June.  Summit also considered replacing Taylor Lautner, who plays Jacob in the novel adaptations, but the actor beefed up to appear older and more capable as a shape-shifting wolf-teen.

What do you think, Twilight fans?  Do you side with Lefevre, or did Summit Entertainment make the right decision?