She's here to help

Can Twilight Saga Survive Major Recasting Drama?

Thu., Jul. 30, 2009 2:27 PM PDT by Leslie Gornstein

Katie Holmes (Batman Begins), Terrence Howard (Iron Man), Rachelle Lefevre (Twilight)

Warner Bros. Pictures, Paramount Pictures, Summit Entertainment

Sign the petition to bring back Rachelle Lefevre to the Twilight movies! The series will die without her, and fans will protest!
—Twiharder

Right, right. Because when The Mummy franchise traded in Rachel Weisz for Maria Bello, the earth bled, and every Pope who ever lived rose up out of the ground and wept. Don Cheadle is replacing Terrence Howard in the upcoming Iron Man movie, by the way. Just in case you want to stage a sit-in outside the Marvel Comics building and give poor old Stan Lee a coronary.

Now listen. No series has ever died because of a recasting. Terrible directing, sure. But not recasting. In fact—here I go! I'm gonna say it!—the Twilight Saga just might be better off ditching Rachel Lefevre in favor of Bryce Dallas Howard, if history is any indication...

...or have you already forgotten The Dark Knight?

Maggie Gyllenhaal did a fine job reading the lines once intended for onetime Bruce Wayne love interest Katie Holmes, and nothing bad happened to anybody. Well, that's not true. But we're sure none of it is Maggie's fault.

In fact, people seemed to like that Dark Knight flick, as I recall. To the tune of an unprecedented U.S. opening weekend of $158 million. That's compared to Katie's Batman Begins, which brought in $48.7 million for the comparable period. Of course, Gyllenhaal can't be credited with the huge difference in box office. But she certainly didn't hurt things. (The New York Times called Gyllenhaal a "happy improvement.")

Oh, it doesn't end there. Juno pixie Ellen Page replaced somebody named Katie Stuart in the third X-Men movie. The comic franchise still lives on in movies, what with Wolverine spinoffs and all this.

For the record, it is pretty rare to have an actor dropped in the middle of a ridiculously popular franchise. (Richard Harris, of course, probably would have stayed on as Harry Potter's Albus Dumbledore—had he not died.) But I have no doubt that panting Twihards will still line up around the block to see New Moon, and then Eclipse, and then whatever else. People will go see their favorite gothic melodrama on the big screen—not to see a starlet named Rachelle.

Ask Me a Question on Twitter

________

Stay on top of the bloodsucking, squeal-inducing, shirt-ripping action with E! Online's complete Twilight coverage!