UPDATE: SUMMIT RESPONDS

My heart go out to Rachelle!!!! I will miss you and bealive ladies and gentleman that summit will lose a lot of bussiness!!!!!

People, please don’t give up on Rachelle yet. I know that there is probably nothing that we can do, but we should try. I am hurting for Rachelle right now because I believe that she truly did love the Twilight Saga. Did she make a mistake? Yes. But I cannot even imagine Eclipse with out Rachelle. Please just take a minute to email the people at Summit. There is a list of email addresses above that Ashlie posted. Copy and paste them all in the TO section on you email and let them know how disappointed you are. As we saw with Taylor, Twilight fans do have a voice, and we will be heard if we speak out.
Don’t give up!
TEAM RACHELLE!

I had to dig out my hip boots after reading Summits statement. The BS is DEEP in that statement. No matter what, Rachelle had the right to sign up for other projects just like Rob/Kristin/Peter and others have done since NM wrapped-that’s not unusual. It’s not the least bit odd for Rachelle to think that her 10 days of work on the other project would interfer with her work on Eclipse. And given that her character is central to the Eclipse story line, it’s just petty and (yes, I’ll say it)stupid of Summit to cut her out after all she’s done to promote the franchise. Not to mention that they have now totally pissed me off. And just for the record, I’ve never been a “huge” fan of Rachelle but as an actor she has become the un-living, non-breathing version of Victoria that I love to hate-that says a lot of what I think of her acting ability. Summit needs to get a grip and find a work to bring her back; she has EARNED the right to play Victoria in the segment where she should get to let her talent shine.
Shame on Summit. Quit acting like babies and more like the studio you want to be by demonstrating a little loyalty to the cast that has MADE you what you are today.

This was definitely an extreme response on Summit’s part. If it had been Kristen or Rob there wouldn’t have been any recasting going on. Summit would have found a way to work around it, which just proves that they could do it. This is when I start losing faith in big buisnesses. If Summit cared they would listen to the fans!

BRING BACK RACHELLE!

Am I the only one who thinks Jim sounds like a Summit lurker?

Regardless of the particulars of the situation, Jim, at the very least Summit has behaved poorly. The actor was not informed, it was not discussed beforehand, she was sent to Comic-Con to promote the movies with Summit’s full knowledge that they would drop the recasting bomb shortly thereafter. The press release was dropped in the late hours of the night, the rebuttal to the actor’s statement makes them sound childish.

Summit is in serious need of some rational public relations people, and they owe Twilight fans a major apology for sullying the Saga this way.

Jim, it appears to me that you work for Summit! At least by what you say, you have pretty strong feelings for their business practices. I can’t imagine any Twilighter (who didn’t have ties to them) being so hot for Summit without considering Rachelle’s position first. Where did you come from?

All in all, I smell a rat, and this just disgusts me. I don’t believe Rachelle was trying to hide anything… otherwise she wouldn’t have tweeted her plans or talked about the other movie in the interview earlier this month. And I also agree it seems like Summit is doing this to get a bigger name in. Do they not realize that might ruin the chemistry for the film? If she’s filming the other movie in CANADA (Summit seemed to be pulling excuses from their tuchus by claiming Europe) then it shouldn’t be hard for her (in that 10 days to fly over, meet with the cast and crew and David Slade… get a feel for the project and find where she fits in. Then fly back to finish her other movie.
They DEFINITELY could’ve worked this out IF they wanted to.

I agree with Kelly. We all had a pretty good idea that Eclipse would begin production at the end of August beginning of December with Breaking Dawn, hopefully, starting up early next year. How can she even say that she had no idea. If she was so excited to play this role in the saga, she would never have taken a role without making sure that the times would work. And yes, Summit would wait for Kristen and Rob, but it looks to me like they are more organized and would never put themselves in that kind of situation. They move their schedules, they don’t make other move theirs. It seems like this whole situation is in Rachelle’s hands, no one is forcing her. Why not back out of the other thing since obviously she is already apart Eclipse prior to signing on to the other project, and which one will be bigger and better for her career. I feel this is a no brainer.

the blame is on rachelle’s management.

first of all, she shouldn’t have accepted another role so close to the shooting for eclipse. but i think that if the management had disclosed those plans to summit last month EVEN BEFORE she accepted it, perhaps the eclipse crew could have tried to adjust scheduling to accommodate her. they at least could have sat down and talked about how to logistically make it work. but instead, summit was not told until 10 days ago – just weeks before shooting begins – that she would not be available for KEY REHEARSAL and SHOOTING days. that’s simply unacceptable.

things are already set for eclipse. and it involved way too many people and companies and locations and contracts to go back and re-plan the whole thing.

summit stated: “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.”

those locations will not be available for filming once rachelle gets there. not to mention, she won’t be around for rehearsal!

what was summit supposed to do? there’s not much time left before rehearsals begin.

it is a very unfortunate situation for everyone involved. it sucks a lot. i’ll be bummed to see rachelle go, and sadly i think it’s too late to bring her back now, but i’m also very excited to see how Bryce will portray victoria. i loved her in the village and i think she will make a great vampire.

the movies will still be just as awesome, and the world will continue to turn.

everyone needs to show bryce the same twilight love we’re known for and welcome her to the twilight family.

I’m not sure why everybody keeps saying that the fans are the ones to suffer. HOW WILL WE SUFFER BY SEEING A BETTER ACTRESS PORTRAY VICTORIA????? Summit has decision to make in order to ensure the best movie possible, and I say, good for them. I totally trust them.

GROW UP all you petitioners. It won’t change their decision. Promise.

CONGRATS BRYCE!!! Can’t wait to see what you bring to the role!

although i would have liked it Rachelle played Victoria… she should have put her Twilight scheduling first and asked the other movie if they could move their schedule… everyone on the cast (with the exception of prob. the main actors Rob, Taylor, Kristen) had to give up other movie deals to work around their Twilight filming schedules why shouldn’t she? BOTTOM LINE she should have worked out the schedule with BOTH movies before committing to something other that Twilight, not after the fact.

Damn, I really loved her as Victoria. Oh well, maybe Bryce will portray her differently.

She had a contractual agreement with Summit, and she broke it. That’s the real world, guys. You don’t work at one place, then suddenly say sorry, can’t do that, gotta go here for ten days; so all the people, who DID work that agreement into their very busy schedules, can just go to hell. That’s not what I call commitment.

Please sign this petition ‘Rachelle Lefevre back as ‘Victoria’ in Eclipse!’ – http://301.to/625

The majority of the reactions on this blog are completely juvenile. Welcome to Hollywood kids! Bottom line: It’s not personal, it’s business. I’m sad to see Rachelle go, but have no doubt that Bryce will do a phenomenal job in this role. How about we stop whining and be positive? I’m excited to see what Bryce brings to the character.

PEOPLE- FANS, PLEASE CALM DOWN! This is not SO tragic, you all are acting as if they were recasting one of the Cullens, Bella, or Jacob and the pack. This will not end badly. Bryce is a very good actor and I’m sure we will all think she does a amazing job. Please try to be optimistic here.

The facts are that Bryce Dallas Howard is essentially her own name, she’s a golden globe nominated actress and she’s been in a few box office hits (Spider-Man 3 and Terminator Salvation). When it came down to the wire either David Slade didn’t want Rachelle or the studio no longer thought she was right for the movie, because she’s basically unknown outside of the twilight films.

In the end, of course they don’t really care about what the fans think…or they would have worked around Rachelle’s 10 day schedule out of a 3 month shoot.

And, the speculation about having Bryce Dallas Howard’s dad, Ron Howard direct Breaking Dawn is B.S., any REAL studio would know that Ron Howard just doesn’t direct anything. he’s passinonate about all his projects and 99% of the time, works with the same production crew, from his production company (imagine entertainment) and producers, like Brian Grazer for example. which means, most, if not all of the twilight saga production crew and producers would be out of a job, which isn’t going to happen. plus, Ron Howard has about 4 different film projects he’s working on right now for the next 3 or 4 years.

hey, but you never know. I call foul on David Slade or Summit alone for wanting, technically, a “Name” actress.

It’s not like we’re going to boycott the movie. Let’s just go with the change.

Rachelle should have known better than to start filming two movies at the same time and think that’d she could do both, reguardless if if it was only a 10 day shoot. It’s a blessing in disguise anyway for her.

Who in their right mind would turn down a movie with Dustin Hoffman and Paul Giamatti? No offense to other twilighters, but twilight is not “The Godfather”. Everybody knows that good indie films tend to bring praise and awards down with them.

Summit just jumped at the opportunity to have a better known actress play Victoria, can’t blame them.

As much as I hate it when movie corporations change up their actors in sequels I do agree with Janicia in the respect that Rachelle should have known better than to start two movies at the same time and think that she could to it.

However, I feel like this is becoming a “he said” “she said” thing and that’s not good. I don’t know the new actor who is going to play Victoria in Eclipse well, but I’m sure she’ll bring something new to the screen.

But I do wish Sumitt would have decided to work things out a little more with Rachelle and her schedule. And not just jump at the moment to cast somebody new.

why in the world should Summit listen to the fans?

What was the reaction when Robert Pattinson was first cast as Edward Cullen? And where is he now? A major heartthrob and the majority of the fans LOVE him as Edward.

What was the reaction when Catherine Hardwicke was replaced? And look at all the wonderful things Chris Weitz has done with New Moon. New Moon is looking to be SOOO much better than Twilight. (I loved Twilight the movie, but only because it was Twilight.)

I’m not thrilled about David Slade but willing to give him a chance.

Now that said, I’m very sad about Rachelle Lefevre being replaced. It sounds like she and/or her management team made an error in judgment, but why aren’t Summit AND the other movie’s company willing to work with her on a solution? It makes me feel that Summit and/or David Slade was already thinking about replacing her (and who to replace her with), especially given how quickly it all happened.

The bottom line is, it’s not going to stop me from seeing Eclipse, and I’ll bet the same is true for the vast majority of the fans. (anyone not going to see New Moon because Sam and Embry’s characters were re-cast? Yeah, I thought so.)

And I have to wonder what the reaction will be after Eclipse comes out. Will there be a 180-degree reaction from fans like there was with RP and CH?

Alright..I spoke my thoughts and apparently some of you didn’t like what I had to say and had to resort to childish retorts.

Look, I don’t work for Summit. But I enjoyed the backlash my comments have gotten. I rarely post here and when I do, its usually just for information. I happen to work for a movie theater and I enjoy Twilight (the books more than the movie, but the movie was good). I get some info a bit early on trailers and such in my job. I try to help out fellow fans (although I’m obviously not as RABID as some) and give info. I saw a topic that I had a different point of view on and decided to jump in with apparently some bad results.

“Jim, it appears to me that you work for Summit! At least by what you say, you have pretty strong feelings for their business practices. I can’t imagine any Twilighter (who didn’t have ties to them) being so hot for Summit without considering Rachelle’s position first. Where did you come from?”

I appreciate healthy debates and the sharing of ideas, but I don’t appreciate being called out in this manner.

Seems like some fans can’t take the reality of the situation. I’m a realist. I’m not hot for Summit. Apparently the love for Twilight for a lot of fans clouds the obvious answers to the business world and how things work.

I will say again…I think it was crappy of Rachelle to think the movie timeline could be tweaked just for her on such short notice and not tell Summit until just a few weeks before shooting. I think it was crappy of Summit for ousting her in such a public manner. I think they’re BOTH childish for the bull that’s going on now.

But what’s done is done. Bryce is in…Rachelle is out. There’s not enough signatures in the world to get Rachelle back in the film at this point. Its too close to filming and they’ve got another contract on the film to fulfill by signing Bryce. Face facts folks, when it comes to the final showdown with Victoria, it’ll be Bryce you’ll be seeing and not Rachelle. I’ll say again…I like Rachelle but its just how its gonna be.

Wow there are some real immature people on this board. The fact is she made a decision (obviously not a smart one), the producers had alerted all the actors of the impending schedule for a eclipse but left them a little time before shooting to maybe fit in a role or two. Now speaking as a professional actor (who has worked on a film or two) you have to be wise when you make these decisions because there is a business side to acting and 90% of it is TIME MANAGEMENT and the reality is that a shooting schedule CANNOT be altered once completed because you would lose a lot of money and on a big production like this you would probably lose a couple thousand a day because of rescheduling so this is no joke people. I do agree that Summit may not have handled it professionally but you have to realize that they are a greenhorn production company from what I’ve heard and they are rushing shooting schedules (they probably don’t want potential movie goers to lose interest) so if you are aware you can’t shoot a role to close to filming why would you sign on?

One last thing a lot of people have been giving Summit flack not just for this but for many other ridiculous reasons that I can’t remember and the funny thing is at the end of the day all these so called fans (or Twi-hards) are going to see the film regardless, I’m not trying to say fans of this series are unintelligent because then I could say the same about the Spiderman fans (God the last two films were horrible!) but seriously people lighten up! And besides if Bryce Dallas Howard turns out to be terrible at least you’ll see Jacob Black and Edward Cullen shirtless.