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Studio Sheds Light On Reasons Behind Twilight Personnel Change

By Evil Beet Gossip • on July 30, 2009

I had a feeling there was more to this story than we were originally hearing. Last night I told you about the replacement of Rachelle Lefevre, the actress who plays Victoria in the Twilight movies. And, you know, she released a statement making it seem like she was pretty much blindsided by Summit Entertainment’s decision to go with a different actress — Bryce Dallas Howard — due to a minor “scheduling conflict”. According to Summit’s rebuttal, Lefevre may be playing dumb:

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.

It was not until July 20th that Summit was first informed of Ms. Lefevre’s commitment to Barney’s Version, a commitment we have since been advised she accepted in early June. 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.

Ms. Lefevre took a role in the other film that places her in Europe during the required rehearsal time, and at least ten days of The Twilight Saga: Eclipse’s principal photography. This period is essential for both rehearsal time with the cast, and for filming at key locations that are only available during the initial part of production.

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 [Eclipse].

I think Rachelle needs to shut her mouth and chalk this up to one very expensive life lesson. Well, if she ever hopes to work in Hollywood again, that is.