Twilight Actress Replaced With Howard

Rachelle Lefevre has been replaced with Bryce Dallas Howard in the upcoming The Twilight Saga: Eclipse (third book and movie) in the role of the fiery-haired vampire, Victoria.  Summit claims that the casting change took place due to a scheduling conflict for Lefevre.

“We are incredibly happy that Bryce has agreed to come into the franchise,” said Erik Feig, Summit’s president. “Rachelle brought Victoria to great screen life and Bryce will bring a new dimension to the character. The franchise is lucky to have such a talented actress as Bryce coming in to fill the role.”

I checked out Lefevre’s IMDb profile and I did see that there are two movies there in pre-production – Web Cam (2009) and Barney’s Version (2010).  Please tell me she didn’t give up a role in a very popular series for either of these films…

Shooting for Eclipse begins next month and is set to hit theaters on June 30, 2010 (so soon! New Moon isn’t even out yet!).  Howard was most recently in Terminator: Salvation.

What do you think of the casting?  I guess it works if they were trying to go for a natural red-head.  Plus, Howard is pretty pale.  She seems like a very serious actress for this role, though.  I actually really like her but I’ll have to wait to see what she’s like as Victoria, who is so important in this series.

image: Sony Pictures