You guys decide if the shoot breakdown is real
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'Desperate' Damage ControlAfter a knock-down, drag-out catfight, the only thing left to do is sweep up the fur. Teri Hatcher and ABC appear to be in damage-control mode in the wake of the diva-crammed catastrophe that was the "Desperate Housewives" cover shoot for Vanity Fair.
As we told you on Monday, the poolside set was filled with tempers, tears and enough four-letter words to make the tykes from "South Park" blush. Fingered as the main culprit was Marcia Cross, who was reportedly irate that Hatcher had violated a heretofore unknown network policy by going into wardrobe first and scoring a scorching red vintage swimsuit.
"I never heard that before I read that article so I actually read the thing and I went, 'Really? I'm not allowed in the wardrobe trailer before anyone else?'" Hatcher tells Access Hollywood.
The magazine reports that ABC sent an "enabler" to the shoot with a list of "mandatory stipulations," including one that prevented Teri from getting a sartorial leg up on Cross, Eva Longoria, Felicity Huffman and Nicollette Sheridan.
According to Hatcher, "I walked into the wardrobe trailer and I basically said, 'So what do you want me to wear?' and she held up that red suit and I put it on. That was it. All of 30 seconds."
The Golden Globe-winning actress, who has garnered the lion's share of kudos and attention for the smash series, admits that it "was not particularly easy to have people from ABC who realistically were representing all of us not really behaving that way."
The meltdown moment is said to have occurred when Cross got an eyeful of her scarlet-suited co-star, who was originally situated in the center of the group shot, another no-no from the "mandatory stipulations." The actress reportedly went ballistic and demanded an intermediary take action.
"Eventually Marcia Cross refused to stand next to her and started screaming to her publicist in this kind of profanity-laced tirade saying, 'Get over here and do your 'bleeping' job or you're going to be in 'bleeping' trouble,'" Vanity Fair editor Ned Zeman reveals to Access.
He adds, "I would say Felicity Huffman and Nicollette Sheridan both were extremely consistently professional. Nobody really crossed the line except for Marcia Cross, who really crossed the line and was humiliating people and generally making it difficult for everyone."
Hatcher, however, isn't sure it went down quite that way. "I don't know if that's true, but you have to ask. I'm not Marcia," she delicately explains to AH. "I kind of don't believe that because I've never seen Marcia admit that feeling, so I don't think that's probably accurate."
Still, she concedes, "It's Vanity Fair. They are not going to print something that they can't print."
Teri's memory also seems to falter when Access asks whether she engaged in some on-set blubbering: "I don't remember tears."
In a carefully worded statement, ABC all but admitted the shoot was a disaster so epic "Titanic" director James Cameron could probably turn it into "Wisteria Lane: The Movie": "While negotiating certain elements of photo shoots is standard practice, and was part of our coordination with Vanity Fair, this shoot simply did not go as planned. Because of this, our talent were made to deal as best they could with a situation not of their making. This one isolated incident does not define these women or their relationship."
Says an optimistic Hatcher, whom we urge to keep an eye out for any stray cutlery from craft services that might be aimed at her back, "I haven't spoken to any of the ladies yet ... What I know is that all of the girls are supportive of each other and think that everyone is tremendously talented in their roles ... I think that no one wants to damage that and that will be our job, to come forward from this and figure out how to repair damage."
Teri's image buffering has already begun. The Insider reports the good-hearted actress tossed a surprise baby shower for co-star James Denton on the set this week. Hatcher, who recently received a hefty raise from ABC, paid for and hosted the bash for erstwhile plumber Mike Delfino, who recently welcomed daughter Malin with wife Erin O'Brien.
The "Desperate" issue of Vanity Fair hits stands April 12.
