Heartbreaking Reason Twilight Decided to Recast Its First Victoria
The studio's decision was devastating for the actress.
One of the brightest characters in the first Twilight movie was undoubtedly Victoria. The red-haired vampire, although a supporting character, captured the audience's attention.
However, the actress was replaced in the third movie, which caused discontent among fans.
The first Victoria of Twilight was brilliantly played by Rachelle Lefevre. Fans know her from her roles in Charmed, Life on a Stick, and Under the Dome.
The actress successfully passed the casting and a letter she sent to the director of the movie helped her succeed. In it, she wrote that she saw Victoria as the embodiment of pure evil.
But at the same time she saw the character as monstrously resourceful and feline graceful. It was this description of Victoria that the director of the movie liked, and approved Lefevre for the role.
The actress herself admitted that she was worried before filming. Rachelle watched a lot of TV shows and videos about lions and tigers to learn their grace and vicious grin.
Why was it decided to give the role of Victoria to another actress? After all, Lefevre did a really good job. Besides, the actress only gained fans after she embodied the image of a fiery red vampire on the big screen.
During the shooting of the third movie of the Twilight saga, Eclipse, Rachelle had to leave the set to take part in another project Barney's Version.
The shooting of this movie was supposed to last only ten days, while the work on Twilight was planned for three months.
Representatives of the Summit film company decided that even a ten-day absence of the actress from the set could shift the schedule. Therefore, they decided to replace her.
Lefevre herself was very saddened by such a verdict from the company heads. She didn't even show up at the New Moon premiere, explaining that it was mentally hard for her.
Rachelle was replaced with Bryce Dallas Howard.
Howard was cast because of her resemblance to Rachelle. As the actress herself noted, Victoria from Twilight became a difficult character for her.
In addition, many fans of the saga were stunned by the replacement made by Summit management.
Which of the actresses looked more organic in the role of a redheaded vampire is up to the viewers to decide. And yet, the image of Victoria proved to be so vivid and memorable, largely due to the efforts of Rachelle Lefevre.