14 DAY TRIAL // “Twilight” fans must know that Rachelle Lefevre, who played the villain Victoria in both “Twilight” and “New Moon,” has been replaced by Bryce Dallas Howard for the upcoming two films. While Summit Entertainment said the switch was made because of scheduling conflicts, Lefevre insisted she was fired because of reasons that were as absurd as they were easy to work around. In a new statement, the movie studio lashes out at the her, basically calling her a liar and an unprofessional actress.
One of the claims that the star made in yesterday’s statement was that she was fired for something as ridiculous as a ten-day overlap between “Eclipse” and “Barney’s Version,” a movie she agreed to do while still being bound by contract to “The Twilight Saga.” This could have been easily resolved, Lefevre said, if the movie studio had given her a heads-up and some time to rearrange her schedule. Since it failed to do so, it was clear that she had been pushed out of the franchise for a reason that still eluded her. Not quite so, Summit says now, since things are a bit more complicated than the actress made them seem.
“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. Ms. Lefevre’s representatives were advised as early as April that ‘The Twilight Saga: Eclipse’ was expected to start shooting in early August. If Ms. Lefevre was, as she describes ‘passionate,’ about being part of ‘The Twilight Saga,’ we feel that she and her representatives would have included us in her decision to work on another film that would conflict with the shooting schedule of ‘The Twilight Saga: Eclipse.’” the statement from Summit reads.
Moreover, the studio claims, everybody knew from the get-go the date “Eclipse” would go into production, so that all members of the cast should have done their part to ensure there were no such overlaps as in Levefre’s case. Since she did not do her part, the studio infers she was not interested in making sure things ran smoothly, which, in turn, makes her a kind of actress Summit doesn’t want to have anything to do with. As if this wasn’t enough, Levefre also tried to hide her other project, “Barney’s Version,” a secret until the last moment, thus showing a complete lack of respect to the other people involved in “Twilight” and not just the cast.
“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. The fact remains that 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.’” Summit concludes by saying.