‘Twilight’ Casting Shake Up, Bryce Dallas Howard in for ‘Eclipse’

By Germain Lussier on July 29th, 2009

One of the evil vampires craving the blood of Bella Swan just got some real Hollywood cred.

Due to a scheduling conflict actress Rachelle Lefevre, who appeared as Victoria in both “Twilight” and “New Moon” is out. She’ll be replaced for the third installment, “Eclipse,” by Bryce Dallas Howard.

Howard is no stranger to sequels or big time movies. The daughter of Oscar winner Ron Howard, she has appeared in “Spider-Man 3,” “Terminator Salvation” as well as M. Night Shyamalam stinkers “The Village” and “Lady in the Water.”

In the “Twilight” saga the character Victoria is the side kick of James, the bad vampire in the first film who is killed at the end. So upset over the death of her man, Victoria is seen at the very end of the first film plotting to kill Bella (Kristen Stewart) and Edward (Robert Pattinson). In “New Moon,” she again attempts to do this but is thwarted by Jacob Black (Taylor Lautner). However in “Eclipse,” she really becomes a focal point.

Though we are sure Twihards (that’s slang for Twilight die hard fans) will be upset at the recast, they certainly got a much more talented actress in the role when it counted. So it’s not all for the bad.

“Eclipse” starts shooting in August and will be directed by David Slade. It’s scheduled for release June 30, 2010.