Twilight Drama! (The Best Kind!)

On Wednesday, it was quietly -- as quietly as possible -- announced that Bryce Dallas Howard would be taking over the role of Victoria in The Twilight Saga: Eclipse, a character played by actress Rachelle LaFevre in Twilight and the upcoming The Twilight Saga: New Moon. (Yes, I do insist on calling them by their lame full names.) The excuse was that LaFevre had a scheduling conflict.

On Thursday, all Hell, as they say, broke loose.

First, LaFevre released a statement independently that got the blogosphere in a tizzy:

I was stunned by Summit’s decision to recast the role of Victoria for Eclipse...My commitment to Barney’s Version is only ten 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 ten 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.

Then it turned into a real brawl when Summit Entertainment responded:

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.

Ms. Lefevre’s commitment to the other project – which she chose to withhold from Summit until the last possible moment – makes her unfortunately unavailable to perform the role of Victoria in The Twilight Saga: Eclipse.

There are two separate ways to read this:

(A) LaFevre was trying to pull a fast one over Summit: she was worried that Summit would be pissed about the other film so decided to wait until the last minute to tell them; it backfired and Summit decided to not taking any B.S. from some diva.

(B) Summit saw an opportunity to recast the role with a much bigger name actress and grabbed it, kicking LaFevre to the curb with a B.S. excuse.

Chances are there's a big element of truth to both of those options, which is to say, there's a lot of B.S. floating around. LaFevre's "never did I fathom" line is B.S., because she was obviously worried if she waited until the last minute to tell them. And Summit's "It is not about a ten day overlap, but instead about the fact that The Twilight Saga: Eclipse is an ensemble production, blah blah blah" is even bigger B.S., because replacing her with Howard immediately was incredibly opportunistic.

Of course, now that it's turned into a controversy, the rabid Twilight fans are tuned into the whole thing, which introduces a whole other level of madness. As Nikki Finke puts it:

Here's the problem: once a studio lets the fans into the filmmaking process, it's impossible to keep them out. And that's been the situation with Summit and its lucrative Twilight Saga franchise from the start. ... When I broke the news that director Catherine Hardwicke was being replaced on the sequel New Moon, fans were in an uproar. Eventually, they calmed down -- but only because new pick Chris Weitz began talking directly to the Twilighters. And kept talking, ad nauseum. Very few directors do that. Either they're too arrogant to care, or they don't want pander (which [is what] it is). But now Summit is stuck with a bunch of buttinskis who feel as if they have ownership in the franchise. They expect to be consulted about every decision.

Recent Entries:
· But What Will We Do Without Paula?
· Twilight Drama! (The Best Kind!)
· Kendra Wilkinson Gets Her Show Renewed, Talks Smack about Jon & Kate

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