A DreamWorks romantic comedy called "She's Out of My League" will start filming in Pittsburgh March 31 and is expected to finish at the end of May.

It will star Jay Baruchel, one of the slacker friends in "Knocked Up" and a college freshman on the former Fox TV series "Undeclared," as an average Joe named Kirk who meets a girl described as a perfect 10. Much to his surprise, she takes an interest in him.

The DreamWorks picture would be among four movies with name directors or stars or both to film in Southwestern Pennsylvania in the first half of the year. Those include "The Road," starring Viggo Mortensen, Charlize Theron, Robert Duvall and Guy Pearce and based on the Cormac McCarthy novel of the same name. It's starting principal photography today.

In "She's Out of My League," British actress Alice Eve, whose credits include the quiz-show movie "Starter for Ten" with James McAvoy, will play Molly, the dream girl.

T.J. Miller, who wielded the video camera in "Cloverfield" and appears on ABC's "Carpoolers," plays Kirk's best friend. Actor Nate Torrence from "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip" and a gadget geek in the soon-to-be-released "Get Smart" will be another pal.

Englishman Jim Field Smith will direct a screenplay by Tim Dowling (from an original script by Sean Anders and John Morris).

The movie will be set and filmed entirely here. "We chose Pittsburgh because we have had great experiences in Pennsylvania and believe that Pittsburgh will be a great supporting character in our movie," Steve Molen, president of physical production for DreamWorks, said yesterday.

The film, being produced by Pittsburgh native Jimmy Miller, is slated for release in early 2009.

"We're very excited to welcome DreamWorks to Southwestern Pennsylvania for the first time ever," said Dawn Keezer, director of the Pittsburgh Film Office.

DreamWorks looked at Pittsburgh for 10 to 15 other projects, including "The Lovely Bones," which landed in Philadelphia. "This is the first one that actually works, and we're thrilled they're here," Keezer said.

She credited the state's film incentive program, along with the area's talented crew base, as sealing the deal with the major studio. Miller's hometown roots also helped, as did Keezer's move to Los Angeles, which has brought her greater access to filmmakers.

The spring could bring even more work.

"We expect to see over $100 million in Southwestern Pennsylvania from January to June," thanks to "She's Out of My League," "The Road," the Kevin Smith comedy "Zack and Miri Make a Porno" and the horror thriller "Shelter," starring Julianne Moore and also expected to start shooting March 31.

"The Road" will camp out here until April 30 when production will move to Mount St. Helens, Wash., Oregon and, later, New Orleans. In a release issued by the production, the casting of Duvall -- a rumor when Mortensen was announced -- has been confirmed.

The movie is about a father and a boy who wander through a post-apocalyptic world where lack of food has caused survivors to turn to cannibalism. The landscape is barren and the air smoggy with ash, so expect much filming in places that are not well populated.

Mortensen, an Oscar nominee for "Eastern Promises," plays the father, and Kodi McPhee (sometimes credited as Kodi Smit-McPhee) is his son and Theron his late wife.

"The Road" will reunite Pearce with director John Hillcoat, who made "The Proposition," a Western set in the remote Australian Outback of the 1870s. Joe Penhall, who adapted the Ian McEwan novel "Enduring Love," adapted the McCarthy book.

"Zack and Miri Make a Porno" stars Seth Rogen and Elizabeth Banks. "Shelter," from a story by British writer Michael Cooney (2003's "Identity"), is being directed by Swedish duo Mans Marlind and Bjorn Stein and will star Julianne Moore.

Asked if the city has enough crew to support the wealth of projects, Keezer said the Smith movie will be finished by March 31 and Pittsburgh aims to have enough crew to make three movies at a time. In a reverse of what happened when work here was slow, the city is attracting workers from nearby cities such as Philadelphia, Baltimore and Cleveland.

Keezer said the next steps in luring even more movie and TV projects would be to lift the cap on the $75 million in tax incentives and to create a workforce development program similar to the one in New Mexico.

Casting Hollywood movies with actors sporting specific looks is nothing new. "The Road" production issued a call for a "a thin man who is missing one or both legs" to portray a character from the McCarthy adaptation.

So when the script for a movie to be shot in Pittsburgh next month called for people with traits including "physical abnormalities" to populate a West Virginia hollow, a local casting agency put out a call.

And the people of West Virginia have been answering.

"It's clear that they have no real understanding of who the people of West Virginia are," Gov. Joe Manchin told the Associated Press yesterday. "And that's not only unfortunate, but in this case offensive. Certainly it doesn't sound like a movie worth watching."

The horror thriller "Shelter" was to hold a casting call through Donna Belajac Casting on Sunday, "looking for people to populate a West Virginia 'holler.' People who have any of the following attributes should attend:

"Extraordinarily tall or short; unusual body shapes, even physical abnormalities as long as there is normal mobility; and unusual facial features, especially eyes."

Belajac did not return a call yesterday evening.

The United Mine Workers of America International President Cecil E. Roberts also took offense to the casting call.

"It harkens back to a dark time in our nation's history when flim-flam artists roamed the country making a quick buck with traveling 'freak' shows, displaying human beings who may have different bodily characteristics, in darkened cages,'' he said in a statement released yesterday. "I believe our society has progressed past that point -- maybe not in Hollywood, but it has in other, more enlightened parts of America."

For the casting call, from 1 to 5 p.m. at the Holiday Inn at 4859 McKnight Road, Ross, the production also is looking for men and women of all races 18 and older to work as paid extras. For more information, call 1-888-937-3331.