After a weekend dominating the headlines out of Comic-Con, namely how thousands of fans camped out overnight in anticipation of seeing Robert Pattinson, Kristen Stewart and Taylor Lautner at the New Moon panel, Twilight is at it again.
The frenzy that is Hollywood casting and coordinating production schedules has forced a shift in a key role in Eclipse, the third film in the Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight series.
Bryce Dallas Howard has replaced Rachelle Lefevre as Victoria, the evil vampire Victoria, who in the third installment continues her quest to avenge the death of her vampire partner James by killing Stewart’s Bella, whose boyfriend Edward (Pattinson) turned James to dust.
In the third book, Bella spends most of her time pondering whether to spend eternal life with Edward or to play it seemingly safe with her BFF/werewolf Jacob (Lautner).
Lefevre played Victoria in Twilight and New Moon, the first and second films, respectively, in the series. Her recent casting in independent drama Barney’s Version, opposite Dustin Hoffman, conflicted with filming for Eclipse. Both projects begin filming Aug. 17: Eclipse in Vancouver and Barney’s in Quebec.
The 28-year-old Howard’s big-screen credits include Terminator Salvation and Spider-Man 3. The daughter of director-actor Ron Howard, she will be working with her father on The Originals, for which she penned the screenplay, in 2011.
This marks the second big casting announcement for Eclipse this month. Last week, Australian actor Xavier Samuel was cast as Riley, a college student and newbie vampire who joins forces with Victoria.
(Link to Xavier Samuel story: https://shewired.com/Article.cfm?ID=23301&SeeAll=true)
Howard adds to the female power set for Eclipse, joining Stewart and Dakota Fanning as Jane, a member of the mysterious Volturi, a coven of vampire royalty.
New Moon, with Lefevre, opens Nov. 20, while Eclipse with Howard is set for June 30, 2010.
