The Replacements

It always bothers me when TV shows or movie series recast important characters midway through their run. The latest example of this is the announcement that Rachelle Lefevre won't be playing Victoria in The Twilight Saga: Eclipse. She will instead be replaced by Bryce Dallas Howard. The reasoning for this is, supposedly, scheduling conflicts, but it seems to me that Summit Entertainment just wanted to save themselves some money by casting a different redhead.I can understand why they'd want to do that, from a financial standpoint it makes all the sense in the world. But this kind of recasting can hurt fan loyalty. I'm not a big Twilight person, so I don't take this change to heart. But I'm sure, with this fandom in particular, I'm sure some fans will be upset by this change. What bothers me is that it insults the audience's intelligence that we wouldn't notice the physical changes. Also, the audience always has the other performance in mind so it distracts from the actual show; we're too busy comparing how the different actors treated the same role. At least, these are my problems with recasting mid-role.

Are you guys bothered by this?

Here are a few more examples of recasting:

Terrance Howard vs. Don Cheadle in the Iron Man franchise:


Alica Goranson vs. Sarah Chalke in Roseanne:


Can you guys think of more that bothered you?

UPDATE via Perez Hilton:

Rachelle's words about the replacement

“I was fully committed to the ‘Twilight’ saga, and to the portrayal of Victoria. I turned down several other film opportunities and, in accordance with my contractual rights, accepted only roles that would involve very short shooting schedules. My commitment to ‘Barney’s Version’ is only ten days. Summit picked up my option for ‘Eclipse.’ Although the production schedule for ‘Eclipse’ is over three months long, Summit said they had a conflict during those ten days and would not accommodate me. Given the length of filming for ‘Eclipse,’ never did I fathom I would lose the role over a 10 day overlap. I was happy with my contract with Summit and was fully prepared to continue to honor it. Summit chose simply to recast the part. I am greatly saddened that I will not get to complete my portrayal of Victoria for the ‘Twilight’ audience. This is a story, a theatrical journey and a character that I truly love and about which I am very passionate. I will be forever grateful to the fan support and loyalty I’ve received since being cast for this role, and I am hurt deeply by Summit’s surprising decision to move on without me. I wish the cast and crew of ‘Eclipse’ only the very best."

For more, check out these articles on E! Online.

The Lorax is Coming

Universal just announced they'll be making an all CGI movie of Dr. Suess's The Lorax. I'm so excited for this! I loved The Lorax as a kid! It's possibly one of my favorites of Suess, and why I became a mini-environmentalist as a kid - always making my parents recycle, going out on tree plantings, cleaning beaches with Heal the Bay, and helping out on fellow scouts' projects to help the environment. I was even on my high school's Environmental Science Bowl team! Well, enough about me, the point is that The Lorax was one of the first environmentally conscious influences on my life and I'm sure the same goes for many people, since Dr. Suess is a mainstay in children's literature.

I'm glad it'll be getting the big movie studio treatment, I just hope they stay true to its roots and don't mess with the story too much. It'll be a while before we see it, it was just announced with no cast yet attached. Universal is hoping for a 2012 release, so just sit tight and maybe reread the book and watch the cartoon in anticipation.

(photo and scoop from Zap2it)

William Shatner

So the top trending topic on Twitter at the moment is "William Shatner". It's pretty sad that my first thought was that he died, just given the string of recent celebrity deaths. But it turned out to be happy and hilarious reasons why he's trending.

He did a reading of Palin's farewell speech, that is a great poetry reading. Check it out here:

Weekend Movies

This weekend I saw a couple of the new movies out in theaters. I went into both not really knowing what to expect and just really LOVING both of them. Let's break it down:

(500) Days of Summer

This movie has many things that I love: Zooey Deschenel, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, and non-linear storytelling to name a few. It was a very simple story told in an interesting way. It had a lot of the mainstays of indie films as well, but I didn't feel that it detracted from it at all. It also had a lot of interruptions in the storyline to stylize it and show the fantasy and daydreaming involved in the beginnings and ends of a relationship that I really enjoyed. The random musical number and the expecation/reality scene being the most prominent. Well, in all, I just really loved the movie and highly recommend it to you all. Also, here's the Rotten Tomatoes show's review about it:



Have you seen it already? What did you think?

Whatever Works

This is a classic Woody Allen film, and a good one at that. If you like Woody Allen films (Annie Hall, Manhattan, Bullets Over Broadway, etc) then I think you will like this one. It features his trademark neuroses, all living in Larry David's Boris, and the May-December romances that you come to expect in his films.

Woody Allen actually wrote this script in the 1970s, but when the lead actor he had in mind died, he shelved it until he could find the perfect leading man. He found that with Larry David, and that's why the film is out now. But while it is set in a timeless modern NYC, it still feels very '70s in terms of the relationships and metamorphses tha take place. But the film doesn't feel dated or like a period piece, so it just goes to show you how little people have really changed in the past 40 years.

While the film has been receiving mixed reviews, I really enjoyed it and if you enjoy Woody Allen's paranoia tinged humor, then you'll enjoy it too.

Originality > Tradition (Wedding Edition)

While searching around online for one of the shows I've been researching, I've come across a couple very cute/funny wedding videos that I think more people need to see.

This first one is a great stop-motion wedding invite movie:

I wish I was this creative and talented! What a great way to invite people to your wedding, much more memorable than just a sheet with some fancy writing on it.

This has been making its way through the viral community, so many of you may have seen it already. But I just love it so much!