Teri Hatcher takes on vastly different acting jobs

Teri Hatcher (left) and Tahmoh Penikett star in the Lifetime movie “The Killer Inside: The Ruth Finley Story.” (Photo courtesy of Lifetime)

BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KGET) — This will be a very diverse acting weekend for Teri Hatcher.

Not only is she starring in the ripped-from-the-headlines Lifetime film “The Killer Inside: The Ruth Finley Story” but she also can be heard as Muthr, a robot caretaker, in the new Apple TV+ series “WondLa.”

Her on-screen work in “The Killer Inside” has Hatcher playing Ruth Finley who with her husband, Ed (Tahmoh Penikett), are living a tranquil life in Wichita, KA. The world is turned upside down when Ed suffers a heart attack. As Ed fights for his life in the hospital, Ruth starts to receive mysterious threats, leaving her in a state of panic.

She finds herself enveloped in paranoia in a city held hostage by the BTK killer. Ruth is abducted but her sudden reappearance shortly after the kidnapping leaves investigators baffled and scrambling for answers.

Hatcher went into the project knowing there would be two different audiences watching the film. Many of the viewers will know the story because it was in the headlines. There also will be many who are unaware of the real tale. She is convinced both can enjoy the production from their different perspectives.

She took a third approach to playing the role.

“I was approaching this movie as the different levels of Ruth’s personal anxiety,” Hatcher says. “Very much throughout the movie, the incidents that were happening and where it was landing in her body as this anxiety amped up and amped up as this killer was more and more proficient in the community.”

Hatcher was excited about taking on the role because she saw it as a very complicated story. Because the story is so dark and dramatic, Hatcher had to find the right way to get inside the mind of the real woman she would be portraying. It took extra work because the bulk of Hatcher’s acting roles tend to be comedic.

This is also the first time that Hatcher has played a real person.

“There was this respect and empathy I wanted to have for who this woman was even if it was what I imagines what she was,” Hatcher says. “I wanted to do that with honor and respect.

“Also, it is a real situation beyond Ruth. The BTK killer was unbelievably horrific and destructive and traumatic for so many families. Doing that research, as it applies to a real thing that happened, was a new experience for me.”

The hectic work schedule Hatcher is experiencing ended up being a bonus for her preparations to play the emotionally struggling Finley. Hatcher had gone from Los Angeles to Europe for a job and then went directly to Canada for the filming of the Lifetime movie.

She found herself not sleeping in Europe because of the jetlag and that made learning her lines and doing research much more difficult for her.

“I really got no sleep for three days in a row on top of the anxiety of when am I going to learn my lines,” Hatcher says. “I think for the first time in my life, I had a true anxiety attack.

“Lucky for me I am not a person who normally experiences that. I have had my bouts with depression for sure so I can understand mental health issues. But anxiety isn’t really my burden. To have this happen to me, I literally thought my head was going to explode.”

Obviously, it didn’t but Hatcher was able to use all of that emotional turmoil in deciding how to play her latest role. She now can joke that at the time she thought maybe the universe was trying to give her some help in figuring out the correct way to play the role in the made-for-cable production.

Penikett saw the anxiety his co-star was facing. He was impressed with the performance she was able to present despite starting from such an anxious spot.

“The Killer Inside: The Ruth Finley Story” debuts at 8 p.m. June 29, on Lifetime.

Hatcher’s role in “WondLa,” launching on the streaming service June 28, is at the opposite end of the acting spectrum. It centers around Eva (Jeanine Mason), a curious, enthusiastic and spirited teenager being raised in a state-of-the-art underground bunker by Muthr, a robot caretaker. On her 16th birthday, an attack on Eva’s bunker forces her onto the Earth’s surface which is now inhabited by aliens, covered with other-worldly fauna, and no other humans to be found.

Only Hatcher’s voice can be heard in this production. Although Hatcher is best known for live-action work such as “Desperate Housewives” and “Tomorrow Never Dies,” she has numerous voice credits on her resume. They include “Planes” and its sequel “Planes: Fire and Rescue” plus “Captain Jake and the Never Land Pirates.”