andPOP - Pop Culture With Substance

Australia’s Xavier Samuel has been given a role in Eclipse, the third instalment of the Twilight franchise, reports Perez Hilton. Xavier, 25, will play Riley, a vampire who assists Victoria in her attempts to murder Bella.

“I was up against some truly great actors who I’m privileged to be considered among,” he said. “It’s a fantastic opportunity.”

Channing Tatum and Harry Potter’s Tom Felton were reportedly also considered for the role.

Filming for Eclipse is planned to begin August 17 and wrap October 31. It is tentatively scheduled for release June 30, 2010, following the second film, New Moon, which hits theatres November 20.

It all started with two girls and a web cam.

Miley Cyrus and her best friend Many have been keeping regular video blogs on YouTube since February. In their videos, the girls generally just fool around and sometimes dance.

So what else was there to do but battle? “Step Up 2: The Streets” director John M. Chu and star Adam Sevani posted their own video blog on April 10, challenging Miley and Mandy to a YouTube dance battle. Their video continued with a montage of Sevani and his crew break dancing and krumping.

Sevani and Chu explained that there were no rules, and that the young girls could recruit anyone for their response – if they were brave enough to take the challenge.

Just three days later, the girls proved they were man enough. With help from their friends, Miley and Mandy made a complete music video to Madonna’s new single, “4 Minutes.”

They even recruited “Step Up” alumni Channing Tatum and Jenna Dewan to perform in their video – surely a slap in the face for Sevani and Chu.

Chu, Sevani and their crew, “ACDC,” have not retaliated yet, but keep watching the blogs – and the streets.