Howard replaces Lefevre in 'Eclipse'

Terminator: Salvation's Bryce Dallas Howard will be replacing Rachelle Lefevre in the role of Victoria in the third installment of the movie adaptation of the Stephenie Meyer vampire series, entitled "The Twilight Saga: Eclipse."

According to an article on Variety.com, "Lefevre originated the role in 'Twilight' and appears in the upcoming sequel 'New Moon,' but Summit says scheduling conflicts forced her to leave the picture. Pic starts shooting in Vancouver in August under the direction of David Slade. 'Eclipse' has a release date of June 30, 2010."

The scheduling conflict came about because Lefevre was recently cast in the indie drama, "Barney's Vision," opposite Dustin Hoffman. The two films have a start date of Aug. 17, hence the conflict.

"We are incredibly happy that Bryce has agreed to come into the franchise," said Erik Feig, Summit's president of worldwide production and acquisitions. "Rachelle brought Victoria to great screen life and Bryce will bring a new dimension to the character. The franchise is lucky to have such a talented actress as Bryce coming in to fill the role."

A HollywoodReporter.com article briefly summarizes the plot of the third movie, "Victoria attempts to kill heroine Bella (Kristen Stewart) as she avenges the death of her mate James."

Besides appearing in 2009's "Terminator: Salvation," Howard's other credits include M. Night Shyamalan's 2004 thriller, "The Village," opposite Joaquin Phoenix and Adrien Brody, another M. Night Shyamalan thriller, 2000's "Lady in the Water," opposite Paul Giamatti and 2007's "Spider-Man 3," opposite Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst.