Summit Entertainment vs. Rachelle Lefevre

Posted on July 30, 2009

The Twilight fans are up in arms over Summit Entertainment's summary firing of Rachelle Lefevre from the third Twilight movie, Eclipse. Summit said it was a scheduling conflict. Then Rachelle issued her own statement saying that she was totally shocked by the firing and that she didn't really have a conflict, that she was doing a small independent film which only had ten days' overlap in the shooting schedule, which should have been fine with Summit.

Then Summit issued a statement, basically calling Rachelle a big liar. Summit says, "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."

They also say they were not informed of Rachelle's commitment to Barney's Version until July 20th. They also say her role in the other film places her in Europe during her required rehearsal time and for at least ten days of The Twilight Saga: Eclipse's principal photography.

Here is where Summit calls here a liar: "Contrary to Ms. Lefevre's statement, it is simply untrue that the Studio dismissed her over a ten day overlap. It is not about a ten 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."

Summit also says Rachelle kept her role in another film from them a secret until the last possible moment. Summit says, "The fact remains that Ms. Lefevre's commitment to the other project -- which she chose to withhold from Summit until the last possible moment -- makes her unfortunately unavailable to perform the role of Victoria in The Twilight Saga: Eclipse."

Ouch. But there's more. According to E!, the parties have both agreed to stop issuing inflammatory statements to the press. Now the lawyers are handling it. Rachelle's lawyers say her contract allows her to do other films even if they overlap. And they want Rachelle to be paid, because she's not the one in breach of her contract.

Marc Malkin at E! says that the entire cast has been ordered not to talk about the Rachelle firing situation. But luckily for fans, that Twilight ship is as leaky as a sieve.

Rachelle talksa bout her role in New Moon in thisn Cineplex interview clip.

TWILIGHT