People: Well, we’ll see what develops

The role: “Mild-mannered, middle-aged white guy, kind of idealistic, sort of a cheerleader, not the utter pushover he seems.”

And, oh yeah: “Make him funny.”

Sounds like a job for a superhero among supporting players – a job for … BATE-man!

Jason Bateman, who will wear “Arrested Development” as a career highlight to the end of his days, plays a lot of those movie Average Joes – the guy who doesn’t really want to grow up and raise a child in “Juno,” the nerdy accountant seemingly immune to the magical pull of “Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium.”

“I’m the Everyman, the straight man, the middle-aged white guy who isn’t overly skinny, overly tall, overly short, somebody who reacts to the funny things around him,” Bateman says.

“My mother’s British, so I kind of come by this reactionary comedy thing by default. It’s in my genes.”

His most Jason Bateman-ish role ever just might be in “Hancock,” the new superhero action comedy starring Will Smith that opens in theaters today.

Bateman plays Ray, a do-gooder public relations man who wants to save the Earth, feed the hungry, house the homeless and maybe fix the wrecked image of the drunken superhero title character.

The reviews aren’t the best of Smith’s career, but Bateman is winning almost universal praise from critics.

“No one has given him such a juicy part in years,” said The Hollywood Reporter. “(He) rips into it lustily.”

Bateman, 39, took the occasion of the cancellation of his much-loved, short-lived TV show, “Arrested Development,” to grab seemingly every role in sight – a veritable smorgasbord of wacky best friends (“The Break-Up”), strung-out lawyers (“Smokin’ Aces”) and wisecracking F.B.I. analysts (“The Kingdom”), along with a cameo as a boorish TV star in “Forgetting Sarah Marshall.”

“I have been grabbing stuff from all over the place, just to avoid being pigeon-holed again,” Bateman says.

“If the TV show hadn’t come along, I honestly don’t know what I’d be doing with this half of my life. Not acting, I’m guessing.

“So I am working toward building the kind of broad-based, not-a-big-star, not-a-celebrity career that will give me another 30 years of employment.”

And he holds out hope that all those Hollywood fans of “Arrested Development” will find the cash, make the planets align and figure out a way to make a big-screen version of the series.

“All roads lead back to ‘Arrested Development,’ ” Bateman says. “It was a reset point for my career, giving me the chance to have this second half.

“The audience for that was small, but it must’ve been entirely in Hollywood. It seems as if every job I get is from a fan of the show. So if there’s a chance to do it, the will is there.”

The birthday bunch

Actor Robert Ito (“Quincy”) is 77. Actress Polly Holliday (“Alice”) is 71. Actor Ron Silver (“West Wing,” “Veronica’s Closet”) is 62. Writer-director Larry David (“Curb Your Enthusiasm,” “Seinfeld”) is 61. Model-actress Jerry Hall is 52. Actress Yancy Butler (“Witchblade”) is 38. Singer Michelle Branch is 25. Actress Ashley Tisdale (“High School Musical”) is 23. Actress Lindsay Lohan is 22.