Summit Entertainment, the studio behind the T.i.ight movies, has fired back at Rachelle Lefevre, saying that they’re "disappointed" the actress has decided to discuss her recent recasting publicly.
On Wednesday, Lefevre (who played vampire Victoria) said she was "stunned" the studio had replaced her with Bryce Dallas Howard in the film's upcoming third installment, Eclipse, because of a scheduling conflict: "Never did I fathom I would lose the role over a 10-day overlap."
But Summit painted a different picture in the statement late Wednesday: "We at Summit Entertainment are disappointed by Rachelle Lefevre's recent comments, which attempt to make her career choices the fault of the studio. Her decision to discuss her version of the scheduling challenges publicly has forced the studio to set the record straight and correct the facts.
Ms. Lefevre's representatives were advised as early as April that The Twilight Saga: Eclipse was expected to start shooting in early August.
If Ms. Lefevre was, as she describes, 'passionate' about being part of the Twilight saga, we feel that she and her representatives would have included us in her decision to work on another film that would conflict with the shooting schedule of The Twilight Saga: Eclipse.
It was not until July 20th that Summit was first informed of Ms. Lefevre's commitment to Barney's Version, a commitment we have since been advised she accepted in early June. Summit had acted in good faith that she would be available to fulfill her obligations both in terms of rehearsals and shooting availability for The Twilight Saga: Eclipse. We feel that her choice to withhold her scheduling conflict information from us can be viewed as a lack of cooperative spirit which affected the entire production.
Contrary to Ms. Lefevre's statement, it is simply untrue that the studio dismissed her over a 10-day overlap," the statement concludes. "It is not about a 10-day overlap, but instead about the fact that The Twilight Saga: Eclipse is an ensemble production that has to accommodate the schedules of numerous actors while respecting the established creative vision of the filmmaker and most importantly the story."
