Usually, when Twilight fans start screaming, it’s because Robert Pattinson has waved an unruly follicle in their general direction, but today they’re screaming for another reason: namely, the news that Rachelle Lefevre, who plays evil vampire Victoria in the franchise, has had to bow out of the third Twilight movie, Eclipse.
But if those screams were tinged with despair, the news that Bryce Dallas Howard has been drafted in to replace Lefevre should alleviate that somewhat.
Howard is fast becoming Hollywood’s equivalent of Liverpool legend, David Fairclough, a ginger-haired supersub called upon to replace original selections. Just this summer, after all, she starred in **Terminator Salvation **as Kate Connor, a role first played by Claire Danes in Terminator 3: Rise Of The Machines.
As Twihards know, Victoria’s role is significantly expanded in Eclipse, with the flame-haired vamp the sinister force behind an army of newly-created bloodsuckers, out to put the hurt on Pattinson’s Edward and Kristen Stewart’s Bella.
However, before any suggestions are made that Lefevre was replaced by studio bosses anxious about her ability to pull off a larger part (stop sniggering at the back!), it would seem that that old chestnut, the scheduling conflict, put paid to the 30 year-old’s Twilight tenure. Quite what the conflict was with, though, remains unclear at this time.
So, now Howard steps in, and we’re sure she’ll do a bang-up job. In fact, this could be her version of David Fairclough’s winner against St. Etienne in the 1977 European Cup quarter-finals.
Filming on Eclipse starts next month, with a release date of June 30, 2010 set in stone.