Recasting in movies

News came yesterday that Bryce Dallas Howard will be stepping into the role of Victoria for the third film of the Twilight Saga called Eclipse. According to Summit, the studio that releases the Twilight films, the original Victoria, played by Canadian Rachelle Lafevre had to drop out because of scheduling conflicts with another film (Barney's Version).

Well, according to a statement from Lafevre, she was quite surprised to be replaced and as a fan of Twilight, I was too.

I was quite happy to see a Canadian take on such a role in a very popular series and looked forward to her having a meatier part in Eclipse. In Twilight and New Moon she wasn't quite a major character but her presence was.

But will I miss Lafevre as Victoria? I really don't know until I see how she is in New Moon but I think I can understand that the studio wants a bigger name to take on a role that is larger in Eclipse. That's not to say that Lafevre is not a great or good actress, I just haven't seen her in enough stuff to be the judge.

Dallas Howard on the other hand is the daughter of Ron Howard and does have acting chops. I saw her do As You Like It on HBO and thought she was great. As well, she is no stranger to taking over a role as she played Kate Connor in Terminator Salvation and from my understanding, Claire Danes played the role in the previous Terminator film.

Taylor Lautner was in danger of losing the role of Jacob Black in New Moon because the studio felt that he couldn't pull off Jacob's transformation in the film. The actor worked hard to keep the role and now it is unlikely the role will be recast.

It is unfortunate that if it is indeed they wanted a bigger name for Victoria, it is a shame for Lafevre. I think the studio should have given her a chance since the scheduling conflict doesn't seemed to be that insurmountable.

I would have been mightily pissed if the Harry Potter producers decided to re-cast Ginny for Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince because the part was definitely more major than previous films. I too wouldn't blame them to have a bigger British actress play Ginny because her part was really huge in HP6 but it would have been a major diservice to Bonnie Wright who has played Ginny since the beginning and to fans who have grown to love Wright in the part. I am 100% sure that recasting Ginny was never in the cards but you can't help but wonder sometimes when a role because so much bigger than what it was before.

Recasting isn't uncommon in movies. Maggie Gyllenhaal took over from Katie Holmes in the Christopher Nolan Batman movies. I didn't lose sleep over this one. I remembered Maggie Gyllenhaal more in The Dark Knight than I ever did Katie Holmes in Batman Begins.

Of course the recasted Dumbledore but the Harry Potter producers had to considering that Richard Harris died. It took me forever to accept Michael Gambon as Dumbledore until I saw him in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.

Over in TV, you had the two Darrens on Bewitched and the two Becky's on Roseanne and of course the two Cecilys on Road to Avonlea. This latter one bugged me. I thought Harmony Cramp's portrayal of Cecily was sweet and cute. There was an episode where her character contracted consumption and I thought that this would be her episode to shine but alas she was relagated to her bedroom. When the character re-emerged in season 6, I thought they brought her back as it seemed those episodes would be meatier Cecily episodes but alas they recasted with Molly Atkinson.

Back in movieland, I am sure there countless other examples in movie history but it is hot and I am tired so I can't think of any right now.

Maybe there is going to be major backlash from Twilight fans over Dallas Howard replacing from Lafevre as Victoria that the studio will have to recant but that is unlikely to happen.

Honestly though, the film that Lafevre is filming instead of Eclipse is based on a Mordecai Richeler novel and stars Paul Giammati and Dustin Hoffman. You are better off doing that movie Rachelle than Eclipse. No offence to Twilighters, I mean I love the whole series but Barney's Version is more a prestige picture.