TORONTO - Fervent fans of the "Twilight" series are rallying around Canadian actress Rachelle Lefevre after she was kicked off the franchise due to scheduling conflicts.
An online campaign to restore the red-haired beauty, who plays the villainous vampire Victoria in the first two films, ramped up today as devotees protested a decision to give the role in the next instalment to Bryce Dallas Howard.
Summit Entertainment announced the casting change earlier this week, saying that Lefevre signed up to shoot the Canadian film "Barney's Version" in Europe in August even though it conflicts with shooting the upcoming "Twilight Saga: Eclipse" in Vancouver.
A disappointed Lefevre said she was committed to the series, and that the conflict only amounted to 10 days out of a three-month shoot.
"Twilight" fans are circulating online petitions urging Lefevre's return, with the Twitter campaign amassing 3,100 signatures by late Thursday morning.
Lefevre is thanking fans on her Twitter page, saying she's "touched" by their comments and feels "incredibly blessed" to have such fans.
Other supporters voiced their displeasure through comments posted to online newspapers.
"I am so disgusted with Summit right now," Lefevre fan Lynda McCormick wrote on the Globe and Mail website.
"I cannot believe that they replaced Rachelle just before starting to shoot 'Eclipse.' She embodies Victoria, the fans love her.... I was looking forward to the rest of the series, now I'm thinking I'll skip the theatre and just wait to buy the DVDs in the previously viewed bin at Blockbuster."
"Eclipse," based on the third book in Stephenie Meyer's "Twilight" saga, is scheduled to begin shooting in Vancouver in August. It's scheduled for release in June 2010. Part two, "New Moon," comes out Nov. 20.
Principal photography on "Barney's Version," which also stars Paul Giamatti and Dustin Hoffman, is set to begin Aug. 17 in Rome. Lefevre will portray Barney's first wife, Clara, a wild and troubled artist.
Howard most recently starred in "Terminator Salvation" as Kate Connor and has been seen in "Lady in the Water."
