It's sad, but hilarious: No matter how many B-listers since the end of Hollywood's contract era swing and miss while playing big-payday hardball, a new generation always thinks it's the one that will take the studios out of the park. And now, ahead of Breaking Dawn, Kellan Lutz has stepped up to bat against Summit, which reportedly has offered a mere 10 times what he earned two years ago for Twilight. Ptooie! Haven't we all seen how this ends -- even in this very franchise?
Summit last year made an example of Rachelle Lefevre, who was ousted after contentious negotiations that wound up with her wicked vampire Victoria recast with Bryce Dallas Howard. The guiding principle here is that if Summit is going to spend mid-seven figures on a supporting player, it's going to get the supporting player who's worth mid-seven figures, not the one who provides a modicum of continuity for fans. Seriously: That continuity is not worth whatever Lutz and Ashley Greene -- the holdouts who play Edward Cullen's vampire "siblings" Emmett and Alice -- think it's worth, even when spread over a two-part Breaking Dawn.
Which is where it gets interesting: THR Esq. notes that Lutz and Greene are locked in for Breaking Dawn -- as one film. Splitting it up requires a new deal for the second part of Dawn, which would shoot concurrent with part one and open in Summer 2012. (This same conundrum applies to Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson and Taylor Lautner as well, Summit's obvious must-haves who are much closer to a resolution.) Lutz's people have apparently labeled Summit's current offer "offensive"; someone from the studio side was quoted as saying, ""We may have a situation where one of them is thrown out on the street to make a point."
Whether or not that anonymous quote actually came from an individual's mouth (or keyboard), it pretty much crystallizes the obvious conventional wisdom around the entire Twilight franchise. After Bill Condon joined up, this became a prestige showcase for A) the property and B) the triplets. In that order. I wouldn't say nothing else matters to Summit, but, well, again: This kind of crap really is the stuff examples are made of. Are Kellan Lutz and Ashley Greene really ready to walk away from the biggest film(s) of their careers over a couple million dollars they have the rest of their lives to recoup? Or are they that afraid that life after Twilight will make it unrecoupable? Either way, they'd better keep their eyes on the ball; these fat pitches down the middle don't come along that often.
ยท Salary dispute holding up 'Twilight 5' announcement [THR Esq.]