There is some concern within the Brazilian filming commission that recent crime in the Rio de Janeiro(photo credit) area may cost Brazil being used as a filming location. According to the AFP:

“The cast and crew of the hit “Twilight” vampire movie series may abandon plans to shoot scenes from the final movie in Rio after a deadly shoot out there last weekend between police and a gang who took hostages in an upmarket tourist hotel.

Riofilme, the city’s agency for promoting movie production, told AFP that “Twilight”‘s US production company Summit Entertainment was in talks with Rio de Janeiro state officials who were trying to convince them to stay.

The original plans were for scenes from the movie “Breaking Dawn,” the fourth and final installment in the vampire fantasy, to be played out in the Brazilian city which is famed in equal measure for its spectacular beaches and its rampant street crime.

But the real-life drama Saturday of drug gang members taking 35 people hostage in Rio’s Intercontinental Hotel as they tried to escape police has proved scarier to the production crew than the fictional vampires and werewolves they deal with.

After a blazing firefight that killed one person and wounded six others, the gang surrendered. There were 1,550 people in the hotel at the time. About 40 percent were foreigners, though none of them was hurt.”

See more on the AFP.

We asked Summit for an official comment on the story. Here is their statement, “The possibility of filming portions of THE TWILIGHT SAGA: BREAKING DAWN in Brazil has always been under consideration and we are continuing to scout locations within the country.”

So, for those of you in Brazil, fear not. The possibility of Twilight coming to you is still in the cards!

Via TwilightLexicon

Thanks to Summit for clearing up a few rumors that have been floating around the internet lately, mainly about Breaking Dawn, but also about the Eclipse DVD release date. I’m sure you have seen some or all of them, so we wanted to tell you straight from the horse’s mouth.

1) Many of you have sent me casting notices for Breaking Dawn. Any and all casting notices have been false thus far. There is only ONE casting director on the Breaking Dawnfilms, Deborah Zane. No local auditions are being held at this time. Please don’t fall for scams, guys! They are all over the place, and completely unrelated to the films.

2) If you have heard that Renesmee’s name will be changed for the film version ofBreaking Dawn, rest assured this is NOT the case. (Thanks to Twilight Lexicon for doing the recon on that one.)

3) Xavier Samuel (Riley) was listed in the cast list for Breaking Dawn, Part 1 on IMDb.com.  This is also false.  Xavier and/or Riley will not appear in Breaking Dawn.  Keep in mind that IMDb is a member-updated site, meaning a lot of false information can get on there and everyone takes it as official. It’s not! (Thanks to Twilight Examiner for her investigative skills on this one!)

4) The U.S. release date for the Eclipse DVD has not yet been confirmed, so any rumors you have seen about the release date are without merit. International release dates with international distributors may well be accurate, but the US dates are still speculation at this point. When Summit confirms the date to us, we’ll tell you ASAP!

Via Team Twilight