Bryce Dallas Howard's Reaction to Rob in Twilight

NEW YORK — When "Spider-Man 3" actress Bryce Dallas Howard was tapped to replace Rachelle Lefevre as vampire Victoria in the third "Twilight" film, "Eclipse," the 28-year-old didn't need a last-minute study session to ace her character. She was already a fan of the wildly popular series.

"I had already read the books. I had actually seen 'Twilight' several times, much to my husband's chagrin," Howard told MTV News while promoting her upcoming release, "The Loss of a Teardrop Diamond." "Whenever Robert Pattinson would come onscreen, I would grab my husband's hands and start squeezing, and he'd be like, 'Stop squeezing my hand!' "

Though Howard felt intimidated joining the tight-knit cast so close to the start of production, one of her biggest challenges may have been maintaining continuity between Lefevre's Victoria and her portrayal of the revenge-bent bloodsucker. While Howard and Lefevre share similar physical traits, including signature flaming-red tresses, Howard put much care toward embodying the already-established character.

"The visual continuity of the character of Victoria is really important because such a distinctive character had been created that the fans and the audience had really connected to," Howard explained. "She's really described perfectly in the book. So that's what's really important to everybody, that there's an authenticity to bringing these characters to life. It's not really an interpretation. It's like a true representation of what's written on the page, so that's obviously incredibly important to preserve."

MTV