14 DAY TRIAL // Earlier this month, as Summit Entertainment and the main cast continued promoting “Eclipse,” the most recent installment in “The Twilight Saga,” the fan community was left reeling after word got out that Ashley Greene and Kellan Lutz might soon leave. Coming to add more fuel to a fire that is already burning bright, “Twilight” director Catherine Hardwicke tells People magazine a departure may be the case if the salary dispute is not solved in due time.
Admittedly, Summit is working hard to get all members of the original cast locked in contracts that would also span a fifth movie, which would correspond to the second part of Stephenie Meyer’s fourth and final book, “Breaking Dawn.” So far, efforts have been successful with the leads (Pattinson, Stewart and Lautner) but not so much so with secondary stars Kellan Lutz and Ashley Greene, who are asking for more money – money that the studio is not willing to pay them.
This has reportedly brought negotiations to a halt and has determined Summit to pull the plug on Lutz and Greene if they insist on asking more money by searching for other actors to play their characters. The move is a risky one but not unheard of, as we also told you a while back; fans, in return, are terrified at the idea. Hardwicke, though no longer connected to the franchise save for having directed the first film, believes this is a very likely scenario for 2 reasons: when there’s a lot of money involved, these things do happen and, secondly, the two young actors could be receiving bad advice from people around them.
“‘It would really break my heart if they were replaced, but it could happen. Things could turn ugly quickly, Hardwicke, 54, said this weekend at the Twilight Convention in Vancouver. Cullen kids Lutz, 25, and Greene, 23, reportedly had a three-picture deal, which expired, and are trying to score paydays of about $1.5 million as work begins on the next installment, Breaking Dawn. But Hardwicke says the young actors might not even be all that involved in the negotiations. ‘They have all these people and outside influences telling you what to do,’ Hardwicke said. ‘They tell you to hold out for this much because you’re such an important part of the franchise, and everyone is telling you to ask for more’,” People writes.
“It’s a dangerous game, she adds – pointing to the case of Rachelle Lefevre, who was replaced by Bryce Dallas Howard for Eclipse. ‘A lot of stuff can get mishandled and misunderstood,’ she said. ‘That is what happened with Rachelle Lafevre.’ Do they actually deserve more money? Hard to say. ‘Probably they do deserve more money, on one level,’ Hardwicke says. ‘But if everybody makes so much money then... [shrugs]. It is very complicated. Oh my, it is such a mess. I really hope they can sort it out because it would be a shame to lose any actors’,” the mag further says, citing the director.