Teri Hatcher Q&A

11 April 2011

Coraline, which is based on the novel by Neil Gaiman, wowed critics and audiences alike when it hit cinema screens back in 2009.

The movie boasted an all star voice cast that included Teri Hatcher, Dakota Fanning, John Hodgman and Ian McShane and today sees the movie released on Blu-ray.

- This is your first voice work?

This is where I get to check off the box of being an animated voice in a kid’s film. It was amazing. I feel so fortunate. I’m a huge fan of Henry Selick and that kind of animation.

I feel this story is deep and entertaining, and the kind of story that just stays with you. It was a great challenge to get to play not just one but three different characters.

- Why do you think you were cast?

I don’t know Henry’s journey of casting. I understand he listened to many voices but he felt that mine and Dakota’s voice fell into a particular cadence that he felt was accurate and correct.

We spoke on the phone and he cast me. It’s the kind of thing you don’t know what you are going to get. He didn’t know I could sing and hum the things in between.

I didn’t know the guttural raw place my voice could go or the higher place. It was a discovery for both of us.

- What did you like about the film?

Sometimes I think 3D can be jarring. I think this film made the best use of it. Instead of these things coming at you, it was like you were invited into this world. It was this seamless experience and I love the fact that it grew at a particular pace.

Why would this kid want to go off to this other place, so you really had to be mired in this boredom and neglect, and then you see the film pick up and pick up. I love being a piece of this big beautiful pie. There was no Teri Hatcher star or Dakota Fanning star. To me it was an amazing experience.

- Your daughter voiced a character in the movie?

She plays a firefly when they come by and say 'Coraline, Coraline'. It was really sweet. I started working on the film when she was eight and all I had was sketches, but she was really into the story and the scariness of it. So right from the beginning she was excited to be involved.

Not that she wants to be an actress or anything, but when we were up in Portland seeing the animation studios, I was doing some recording there and Henry let her go into the recording studio and gave her some direction and he ended up leaving it in the movie.

- Does she relate to any of the mothers?

I don’t think she relates to any of the mothers I play. She doesn’t watch Desperate Housewives. I think that’s my biggest accomplishment. I can keep it very separate. For this role I don’t think there is any Teri or even Susan in them.

I channeled some other mothers I know who get to that really exhausted overworked feeling. Most of them have more than one child. I have seen that expression of getting to that place but it’s not really a place I get to with my daughter; although I think it’s a relatable place for a parent to be.

- Didn’t you find some of the lines hard to say? You found it hard to say 'shut up'?

Yeah I did. I think that was the hardest voice for me to honestly find. Where is the place you have to get to as a mother to tell my kid to shut up? I have never told my daughter that, not even close.

I don’t think we have even ever had an argument. I don’t judge the other side of it. It’s just what we have, and it doesn’t mean that when she hits 14 she won’t hate my guts. But it’s what we have and how we communicate, so I’ve never told my kid to shut up and I had to try and find the honest place to do that.

- What is your secret?

Honestly, my secret. I do write a bit about this in my book, but I honestly believe that the secret is before you get to that point. The secret is allowing yourself to communicate with your kids so you talk to them before they push you to a point.

If you think you are going to have a stressful day, you start the morning with saying,'I just want to let you know this is going to be a five cup of coffee day for me.' You try to use humour.

You try to embrace the imperfections in yourself and be honest rather than trying to suppress yourself and be perfect mum or perfect dad.

I think it’s better to say those things so there is an expectation that is more realistic and I think if you do that on a consistent basis you may end up with a different result.

- But you need time to do that?

Well I didn’t work for the first five years after she was born. I did Cabaret on the road for seven months, but that was performing at night and I did Spy Kids which was only three weeks work. So I was around. I didn’t sleep.

She was the worst sleeper. I was tired like everyone else but I wasn’t making myself do other things. I think that is the problem, we over tax ourselves. I have so many friends who I tell, 'Put the blackberry in the glove department'. We have to slow down. We are doing too many things at the same time, and that’s what makes us blow up.

- But how do you balance that now that you are busier?

It’s good she is older now. I think the older they get, the busier you allow yourself to be. She has her own thing now and she wants to be with her friends. So you get more space as they get older, you just need to survive those first five or six years.

- Is she aware her mother is famous?

I think in our family I’m her mother. If you are going to define me I’m Emerson’s mum and Teri Hatcher is just a costume I put on for people sometime.

When we are together I sometimes don’t take pictures with people who ask, because I think it takes attention away from her, but I think she is old enough now, if it’s a little kid that comes up she will give me that look of, 'Yeah it’s OK'.

But she knows it’s an image and people are just as apt to mean as nice. You have a close family of friends and family and who loves and know you. All the rest of it is noise. It’s part of the business you have to play.

- Do you think your daughter will follow in your footsteps?

I don’t know what she is going to do. She is quite a writer. She loves to write poetry and draw. When we went to Africa she was really touched by the kids with AIDS, so I can see her wanting to work in some global aspect.

It’s nice to be a kid with a lot of choices and I think she is aware of that and is grateful.

Coraline 3D Blu-ray release 11th April 2011