Jake Gyllenhaal met with a survivor of the Boston Marathon bombings to prepare for an upcoming role in a movie about the attack.

The actor is due to play Jeff Bauman - a man who lost both of his legs in the bombings in April 2013 - in the movie Stronger, which is based on Bauman's book.

Editors at the Lowell Sun newspaper in Boston report the Southpaw star met with Jeff at the Brickhouse Pizza restaurant in Chelmsford on Friday (15Jan16), and the actor's visit did not go unnoticed.

Several fans uploaded images to social media after spotting the Hollywood star in their local pizzeria, and employees at the restaurant confirmed Jake's visit.

"I was in the back in the kitchen and everyone started saying, 'Jake Gyllenhaal's here! Jake Gyllenhaal's here!' It was very exciting," said kitchen manager Laurie Boumil.

Jeff was the subject of a photo from the bombings that went viral after the attack on the city by brothers Dzhokhar Tsarnaev and Tamerlan Tsarnaev. He was being wheeled to an ambulance after the explosion, and the graphic photo showed his injured leg.

The Boston native later helped investigators identify the suspects from his hospital bed, and on the one-year anniversary of the bombings, he announced that he and girlfriend Erin Hurley were engaged and expecting their first child. The couple later wed, and their baby girl Nora was born in July, 2014.