Even outside of the skyrocketing careers of Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattison and Taylor Lautner, “The Twilight Saga” has had a sparkling effect on most of its key cast members.Â
Cullen family regular Kellan Lutz was the first kill in the reboot of “A Nightmare on Elm Street” and plays Poseidon in the highly anticipated “Immortals” this November. Ashley Greene has the Jennifer Garner comedy “Butter” debuting at the Toronto Film Festival and the Miley Cyrus comedy “LOL” and the Warner Bros. thriller “The Apparition” in the can. Peter Facinelli landed a plum part in the Showtime hit series “Nurse Jackie.” After a long career in the background, Billy Burke got a boost with major roles in “Red Riding Hood” and “Drive Angry.” Elizabeth Reaser appeared in an arc on “The Good Wife” this past season, Fox Searchlight’s “The Art of Getting By” and is featured in Jason Reitman’s new dramedy “Young Adult” this December. Cam Gigandet played the villainous vampire James in just the first “Twilight” and it helped him become Screen Gems “it” guy with roles in “Easy A,” “Burlesque,” “The Roommate” and “Priest.” And who can forget Oscar nominee Anna Kendrick? Sadly, one actress who hasn’t felt the “Twilight” glow so far is Rachelle Lefevre.
The original vengeful Victoria in “Twilight” and “New Moon,” Lefevre was one of the franchise’s biggest initial cheerleaders appearing at numerous fan events the “bigger” stars at the time would skip (can you say mall tour?). Moreover, she courted fan love by eagerly talking about her anticipation on playing Victoria in the third adaptation of Stephenie Meyer’s series, “Eclipse,” where the red-headed vamp would be Edward, Jacob and Bella’s main adversary. Instead, one of the more bizarre Hollywood breakups over the past few years without the name Charlie Sheen in the mix occurred. Lefevre’s agent took the wrong time to try and negotiate with Summit around her schedule for “Eclipse” so her client could star in the indie “Barney’s Version” in Italy. Shockingly, the studio decided it wasn’t worth the trouble to figure it out and recast her. Bryce Dallas Howard replaced her in “Eclipse” and Lefevre went to film “Barney’s” alongside Paul Giamatti. “Barney’s” did fine for a Sony Classics release (and found Giamatti winning a Golden Globe), but $4.4 million on the art house circuit doesn’t compare to the blockbuster path of her former “Twilight” co-horts.Â
Lefevre also had a cameo role in the Kevin Spacey indie “Casino Jack” (not her finest work) and played Dr. Ryan Clark on the “Grey’s Anatomy” spin-off “Off the Map.” In a perfect world, “Map” would have put Lefevre’s career back on track. Instead, it was canceled after a short run as a mid-season replacement. Now, Lefevre is getting her first shot as a leading lady in the new indie thriller “The Caller.”
Filmed almost two years ago in Puerto Rico (tax incentives), the thriller finds Lefevre playing a young woman who moves into a new apartment only to be harassed by a caller seemingly 30 years in the past. Ecclectic indie house Samuel Goldwyn is releasing, but this August release seems like it will quickly find itself on its way to DVD and cable re-runs. It’s already screened at a number of smaller festivals and no one is screaming “breakout.” Of course, having a hit TV or movie series behind you is no guarantee of solo movie success. Case in point? Lefevre’s “Caller” co-star Stephen Moyer. After four seasons as Bill on “True Blood,” his iconic role still hasn’t translated to real big screen roles.
Things might just be turning around for Lefevre, however. She just landed a regular gig on the new CBS drama “A Gifted Man” starring Patrick Wilson and Jennifer Ehle. And a hit TV show would be a welcome turn of events after the ups and downs of the past three years. Plus, those 205,000 twitter followers don’t hurt the ego either.
To see a sample of Lefevre’s work in “The Caller,” check out the film’s trailer embedded in this post. The horror-thriller will hit an unspecified number of theaters on Aug. 26.