Jake Gyllenhaal on campus

Jake Gyllenhaal, Hank Azaria and about 300 other people will be on campus filming a romantic… Jake Gyllenhaal, Hank Azaria and about 300 other people will be on campus filming a romantic comedy today.

Today marks the first day of production for “Love and Other Drugs,” a movie directed by Edward Zwick, who made “The Last Samurai” and “Blood Diamond,” among other films.

Gyllenhaal plays a man who sells Viagara-like drugs and eventually falls in love with a woman who has Parkinson’s disease (Anne Hathaway). The movie is based on former pharmaceutical salesman Jamie Reidy’s memoir “Hard Sell: The Evolution of a Viagra Salesman.”

Production crews arrived at the Pitt Athletic Association, next to Alumni Hall, around 4 this morning to begin setting up equipment and testing lighting. Filming began several hours later and will continue until at least 7 p.m.

Around 10 a.m. this morning, crews were filming in the Athletic Association’s bowling alley. Azaria was on set, and a sea of extras in black shirts reading “Doc’s” surrounded him.

Stand-ins for Gyllenhaal and Azaria stood behind the cameras waiting for a gap in the filming, when they’d be asked to stand still for an hour, or sometimes more, holding positions so crews could check the lighting.

Scott Levine, a publicist for the film, said he thought today would probably be the only day the crew was on campus. He said he expects thinks the film will come out in 2010, but that it’s too early to tell for sure. Filming, he guessed, would probably end shortly after Thanksgiving.