Desperate Housewives Has Led to Better Film Opportunities for Teri Hatcher

Today’s revival of Teri Hatcher’s career is definitely owed to the success of the ABC hit series, Desperate Housewives. For many years, the 42-year-old actress seemed to be taking a rather long hiatus, until she landed the role of Susan Mayer on the dramedy.

“A few years ago, when I wasn’t working that much, I never imagined that I would ever be in this spot,” Hatcher said in a conversation with the Chicago Sun-Times over the phone. Today, she has reemerged as one of the biggest television celebrities and has been offered roles in numerous upcoming big screen productions.

“The funny and great thing is the success from the show gives you opportunities in features that you might not have had before,” Hatcher continued. “But at the same time, the show’s schedule makes you unavailable to do the movies you might be chosen for because you’re on a hit show.”

Despite those circumstances, Hatcher still had time to work on Resurrecting the Champ, an upcoming film which became one of summer’s most critically-acclaimed productions. In the film, Hatcher will be playing a woman far from who the clumsy Susan of Desperate Housewives is. She adds that the character is a “smart cookie” executive from an ESPN type of show who has “much more confidence” than Susan or Hatcher herself.

The film is directed by Rod Lurie and will include actors such as Josh Hartnett playing reporter Erik Kerman and Samuel L. Jackson playing former boxing champion Bob Satterfield.

Although Hatcher enjoys filmmaking, she is still very happy with working on Desperate Housewives, which returns for its fourth season in the fall.

“Honestly, I love my day job. I still think filming the series is fun and inspiring. I never can guess where they’re going with the scripts and what they will have Susan doing this season. That’s part of the joy of it,” she said.

As for Desperate Housewives’ season four, Hatcher said, “It’s actually very tough for Susan. Last season there were two very handsome guys in Susan’s life, but no one really wants to know how it all eventually turns out for Susan. Will she be happy with Mike? Will she stop tripping over stuff? All of my friends ask, but I constantly say, ‘You really don’t want to know.’ Why ruin the surprise?”