tMF | The Movie-Fanatic

The biggest news swirling around the Twilight fandom is the 'abrupt' casting change for Victoria in the upcoming Twilight: Eclipse, the 3rd installment in the Twilight Saga. Instead of Rachelle Lefevre playing the vampire villain, Summit is reported to have cast Bryce Dallas-Howard instead.

Let's take a closer look at (1) Bryce Dallas-Howard, the actress. Is she a better Victoria? What can Dallas-Howard bring into Eclipse? tMF also examines her work as an actress and picks her top 3 best movies so far; (2) the transcript so far... the exchange of words between Ms. Lefevre and Summit Entertainment. What went wrong? Who did what and more...



As a final thought, (3) let's look at the more controversial casting news for the Twilight saga. If the Harry Potter series and Warner Bros. seem to be such 'smooth operators' in casting their stars, it seems the Twilight saga and Summit like to play the opposite - is it just mere coincidence or a shrewd strategy to come up with an awesome movie? Is Summit simply flexing its casting muscles?

Let's talk about it!
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Who is Bryce Dallas-Howard? Bryce Dallas Howard is the daughter of award-winning American filmmaker and actor Ron Howard. She is best known for her roles in Lars von Trier's Manderlay and the M. Night Shyamalan-directed The Village and Lady in the Water. She was also cast in Terminator Salvation and Spider-Man 3.

She received a Golden Globe nomination for playing Rosalind in As You Like It. The film was directed by Kenneth Branagh and is based on the play As You Like It by William Shakespeare.

I'm a fan of Ms. Dallas-Howard. I first saw her in The Village, which is considered one of M. Night Shyamalan's biggest hits - grossing over $230 million worldwide. Bryce plays the lead character and her-costars include Joaquin Phoenix, Adrien Brody, William Hurt and Sigourney Weaver. In Lady in the Water, she looks so different, I failed to recognize her at first.



If you want to watch her and find out if she is a good actress, I suggest you watch the 2 above-mentioned movies and also Lars von Trier's 2nd movie in his Amrican trilogy, Manderlay. Nicole Kidman, who played Grace in Dogville (2003, the first in the trilogy) was intended to star in Manderlay (2005, 2nd in the trilogy) as well as a third trilogy installment, but pulled out of the project in July 2003 due to conflicting schedules.

Says Variety on Howard's performance: Taking over for Kidman, who all but transcended her surroundings in "Dogville," Howard, like Grace herself, gradually comes into her own in a role with a schoolteacherish side that would seem to substantially reflect the director himself.

Watch some scenes from the movie, The Village, featuring Bryce Dallas-Howard:


What can Dallas-Howard bring into the cast and the movie? Well for one, her professionalism and reputation as an actress to reckon with. In The Village, she even maintained a diary where she wrote about her experiences while filming. She can be quite intense and dedicated when she put her heart and mind into a project.

Unlike Rachelle Lefevre, Bryce Dallas-Howard has already proven herself as an actress. I'm not saying Lefevre is a bad actress, but since comparison is inevitable, I would have to say, Dallas-Howard is the more established among the two. How she portray Victoria is still in the works, and my biggest issue with her casting is that she is often cast to portray the lead character - the heroine as a matter of fact.

This would be her biggest role playing a character other than the lead actress and a villain at that! Can she deliver like Ms. Lefevre?


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The Exchange: Lefevre and Summit

Says the actress (via E! Online):  I was stunned by Summit’s decision to recast the role of Victoria for Eclipse. I was fully committed to the Twilight saga, and to the portrayal of Victoria. I turned down several other film opportunities and, in accordance with my contractual rights, accepted only roles that would involve very short shooting schedules.


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Summit responds: (via the Twilight Lexicon): 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.

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. [ read more ]

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For all intents and purposes, the production company and the producers (in this case, Summit Entertainment) have the final say as to the shape, length, size, color and sound (and much more) of the finished product. In this case, we're talking about a movie. Part of the 'production process' is the casting selection. Apparently, Summit takes it very seriously when their actors work with other projects and the way they are informed about these 'other' projects. ( for instance, scheduling conflicts, image building, publicity, etc...)

Lefevre's timing in informing Summit: The main issue, I think, is the timing of Ms. Lefevre in letting Summit know of her other commitments. If I'm one of the producers, I would also question my talent's dedication and loyalty to the character she portrays and her commitment to the whole project if she fails to inform me about something as important and as serious as playing another role in another movie.

I also would like to concur with the Twilight Lexicon's response to the whole issue, and I quote:

It's not that we don't have feelings for Rachelle. We certainly enjoyed her performance. She's a classy lady who gives back to fans and is generous to charity. However since we don't know what was in contracts, what was said at meetings, what verbal understandings were or were not reached, etc. we feel most comfortable staying out of it, reporting the facts as given to us from both sides, and letting the fans judge for themselves. [ read more ]

As the Lexicon explained, we are not privy to all the details. It would be absurd if Summit would post copies of their employment contracts right? The big difference between Catherine Hardwicke's replacement and Ms. Lefevre is.... not much really.

Don't let your emotions get the better of you, at the end of the day, no amount of press releases or fan petition would matter. Summit made the call and that's it.

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The Final Word: And I asked:

If the Harry Potter series and Warner Bros. seem to be such 'smooth operators' in casting their stars, it seems the Twilight saga and Summit like to play the opposite -

Is it just mere coincidence or a shrewd strategy to come up with an awesome movie? Is Summit simply flexing its casting muscles?

To each his own, I guess. Warner Bros has its own set of producers, managers, filmmakers, casting directors, and PR people. Summit Entertainment, on the other hand, has their own set of people. Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint and Emma Watson seem so nice and charming and loyal and young and the fact that they reside in England matters a lot. No nasty casting gossip at all, If I failed to recall one big incident, let me know.

On the other hand, Rob maybe British but he is now living almost entirely in the States and as everyone know, he is the #1 target of the paparazzi and the media, hence it's an entirely different matter, being British that is.... Plus, there are more major characters in the Twilight series than in Harry Potter, so...

Finally, the main issue for a moviegoer like you and me is that all film outfits make decisions, whether popular or otherwise, for the sake of coming up with a great movie.

For all we know, there maybe other casting changes in the Twilight horizon soon enough!

What's on your mind? What was your first reaction when you learned that Rachelle Lefevre was replaced by another actress to play Victoria? Are you a Bryce Dallas-Howard fan? Have you seen her previous movies? What is your reaction regarding Ms. Lefevre issuing a press release regarding her reaction to the casting change? Let us know what you think!

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