Lefevre to Not See ‘Eclipse’ Summit Responds

On Wednesday, fans of the “Twilight Saga” were shocked to learn that Rachelle Lefevre – who portrays the vicious vamp, Victoria, in “Twilight” and the upcoming “New Moon” – was taken off the cast list for “Eclipse,” the third movie and her character’s final appearance in the series, and replaced by actress Bryce Dallas Howard.

Fans took to the internet and Twitter was ravaged by tweets calling for Summit Entertainment to right their wrong and “Bring Back Rachelle.” The outcry was so large that “#BringBackRachelle” was the top trending topic, or most popular subject of tweets, for the night.

Lefevre, a Canadian born actress who had done work on television and film before being cast in the “Saga,” issued her official statement to Access Hollywood and said she was “stunned” and “hurt” by Summit’s decision to recast the role of Victoria. Lefevre is committed to the film “Barney’s Version” and production is schedule to overlap that of “Eclipse” by ten days. “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,” she says, “Given the length of filming for ‘Eclipse,’ never did I fathom I would lose the role over a 10 day overlap.”

Late last night, Summit issued their official response to Lefevre. They made the claim that they had told Lefevre the start date for “Eclipse” and that they were the ones who were not informed of her commitment to “Barney’s Version” and the ten day overlap of production until July 20th – when Lefevre accepted the role in June. It was then that Summit made the decision to recast the role.

In their official statement, Summit says, “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…. 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.”

Fans are currently torn, unsure who to believe in a classic case of ‘he-said-she-said’ and, despite the cries from fans of “The Twilight Saga,” it is unknown if Summit will reconsider and bring back Lefevre for the role, though it is very unlikely.

“Eclipse” will be directed by David Slade is scheduled to go into production in the next month, with a release date of June 30th, 2010.

Written By: Ryan, (Ryan H.)