HOLLYWOOD -- Spies of all sizes had best beware, Teri Hatcher is back in business.
In the 19th Bond film, Tomorrow Never Dies, Hatcher played Paris Carver, a seductive siren and the wife of a powerful, corrupt media mogul.
In the family spy adventure Spy Kids which opens Friday, Hatcher plays Mrs. Gradenko, a double-crossing, back-stabbing baddie if ever there was one.
"Of course, it's a bit of an inside joke. Teri is part of the Bond legacy and Spy Kids is a spoof of the Bond films," explains Robert Rodriguez, who conceived, wrote and directed Spy Kids.
Hatcher was flattered to be asked to play her villainous cameo in Spy Kids but insists: "I never thought of myself as a Bond girl. Michelle Yeoh was the Bond girl in Tomorrow Never Dies. I got killed too early to be a real Bond girl."
She quickly sidesteps any questions about her tempestuous relationship with Pierce Brosnan on the set of Tomorrow Never Dies. When he was promoting Tomorrow, Brosnan quipped: "I'm sure Teri's mother loves her," and then added "having become a mother herself, I hope she's learned some humanity."
Hatcher went directly into Tomorrow Never Dies after a successful run as Lois Lane in the popular TV series Lois & Clark: The Adventures of Superman. All Hatcher will offer in her defence, or as an explanation, is: "I was four months pregnant when I did Tomorrow Never Dies. I had been contracted before I became pregnant and was eager to fulfil my responsibilities."
Hatcher is married to actor Jon Tenny, one of the stars of the Laura Linney film You Can Count on Me.
"I actually have two husbands," jokes Hatcher, referring to the Radio Shack commercials she does with Howie Long.
Hatcher says there are no plans in the works for her to reunite with her Lois & Clark co-star, Dean Cain, for any Superman TV movies.
"I'll be forever grateful for Lois Lane but I don't want to revisit her. I don't mind that people still think of me as Lois. I take it as a compliment. It just means I have to work harder to prove I can do much more than Lois, which I think I proved with Cabaret."
For nine months last year, Hatcher played Sally Bowles in the Broadway production of Cabaret. "I hired a singing coach and then flew myself to New York for the audition. I never really believed I would get the role but I knew I had to try. It meant that much to me."
Before critics chose Calista Flockhart as the poster woman for anorexia, Hatcher was the TV personality who was criticized for being too svelte. "Thin is not something I've ever thought about. I've never had to work on it. I'm just very lucky. It's all genetic."
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