Teri Hatcher, the evil mom in Coraline

Melbourne (ANI): Actress Teri Hatcher has turned into an evil mother for her new animated film.

The 'Desperate Housewives' star has revealed that voicing the role of a sinister mother in Coraline almost had her stumped because she's not the same in reality.

"That maybe was the hardest voice for me to honestly find," the Daily Telegraph quoted Hatcher, who has an 11-year-old daughter, Emerson, as saying.

"I don't think we've ever had an argument. It doesn't mean when she's 14 she's not going to hate my guts - (but) I'd never tell my kid to shut up and so it was hard to find the honest place to be able to do that," she added.

Hatcher voices the mother of the little girl of the title name. She also swaps between being Coraline's real mother and two fantasy mothers-one good and one evil-that the little girl stumbles across in a magical world.

The dark fantasy is based on the book by Neil Gaiman, who wrote Stardust, and directed by Henry Selick, of the The Nightmare Before Christmas fame.

Other leading stars whose voices are heard in Coraline include Jennifer Saunders, Dawn French, and Dakota Fanning.