Michelle Pfeiffer is back on screen, and she's bad. As in evil. Times two.

"It's fun to be bad 'cause we don't get that permission in life," said Pfeiffer, who is following up her vicious turn as TV station manager Velma Von Tussle in "Hairspray" with the portrayal of witch Lamia in "Stardust."

Summer 2007 marks Pfeiffer's return to movie theaters after nearly five years of being MIA. She provided the voice for Eris in the 2003 animated film "Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas," but since 2002's "White Oleander," hadn't been seen on screen until "Hairspray" debuted three weeks ago.

"It was never by design," she said. "There was never any conscious decision, Oh, I'm going to take some time off,' or even really a conscious decision, Oh, I'm coming back.'

"I think it was that I had worked really hard for a really long time for many years. I'd done one or two movies a year for decades. ... There was a lot going on with the family at the time and (I was) really involved with the kids, and I had other interests I was pursuing that were very fulfilling for me."

Pfeiffer, 49, who is married to acclaimed TV producer-writer David E. Kelley and has a daughter and a son, kept reading scripts and considering projects. She did find one project that entranced her prior to "Hairspray" and "Stardust."

"I spent two to three years trying to get this movie made with (director) Amy Heckerling," she said. "That's the movie I wanted to make ... So I did that and had a great time."

The film, "I Could Never Be Your Woman," pairs Pfeiffer with Paul Rudd and has been scheduled for a fall release.

In "Stardust," Lamia is an aged and decrepit witch who longs to regain her youth and beauty. All she needs is to find a star that has fallen into the magical kingdom of Stormhold and taken human form (Claire Danes) and eat her heart.

Both Lamia and Velma in "Hairspray" required Pfeiffer to play larger-than-life characters, which "scares" her, she said.

"It's not really my comfort zone," said Pfeiffer, whose outsized roles have included a drug lord's sister in "Scarface" and Catwoman in "Batman Returns."

"I always kind of shy away from that, and I have to be really encouraged to go there, and then of course I'm out of control, and then you have to dial me back."

Pfeiffer was intrigued by director and co-writer Matthew Vaughn's concept for her witch in "Stardust."

"Matthew had this idea to take ... the themes of women and aging and our perceptions of beauty and our perceptions of youth and eternal youth and somehow (incorporate) that into this character, who is ancient beyond any reasonable amount of time," she said. "And the degree to — and of course because it's a movie it's not a realistic degree — but the degree to which people will go to, women will go to have eternal youth and poke fun at it really."

Pfeiffer has earned three Oscar nominations (for "Dangerous Liaisons," "The Fabulous Baker Boys" and "Love Field"), but she also has spent her career trying to prove herself as a serious actress and not just a beautiful woman. She pointed out that people are the same, no matter what they look like.

"When I did Frankie and Johnny,' I took a lot of heat for playing that part," Pfeiffer said of the frumpy, reclusive waitress originated onstage by Kathy Bates.

"One of the things that I really resented and I wanted to say and show is, you know, everybody gets hurt and everybody gets damaged. There is this myth that beautiful people lead these perfect lives, and there's a whole 'nother set of issues that come along with that package. So we all have the hand we were dealt."