Actor Jake Gyllenhaal, in Pittsburgh for three months this fall while filming the movie "Love and Other Drugs," showed his affection for his temporary home on ABC's "Jimmy Kimmel Live" early yesterday when he showed off a tattoo of the Steelers logo on his lower back.

The tattoo was only temporary, created for his talk show appearance in consultation with the show's producers during a routine pre-interview that also settled on a story he told about meeting a fan at a Steelers game.

Mr. Gyllenhaal said a woman presented him with a Terrible Towel she hadn't washed in 25 years.

"I'm a huge fan of 'Bubble Boy,' " Mr. Gyllenhaal recalled the woman saying, referring to one of the lesser films among his credits. He described the towel as filthy and handed it off to a friend who later used it to wipe the remains of a Primanti Bros. sandwich off his face.

Mr. Gyllenhaal claimed he didn't remember much after that but said he woke up the next morning with the Steelers tattoo, which he happily revealed to a rowdy studio audience. His publicist confirmed the tattoo was temporary.

"You really did get the fever, didn't you?" Mr. Kimmel said.

"Tom Brady will never forgive me for that," said Mr. Gyllenhaal, a long-time fan of the New England Patriots in a reference to the Patriots' star quarterback.

Mr. Gyllenhaal told Mr. Kimmel that he knew he was in Steelers country upon his arrival at Pittsburgh International Airport, where he saw a woman on the tram to baggage claim with Steelers tattoos on both ankles.

The actor is loosely attached to star in a long-in-development movie biography of Beaver Falls native Joe Namath.

During his stay for filming of "Love and Other Drugs," which also stars Anne Hathaway, Mr. Gyllenhaal was spotted all over the city, visiting restaurants, coffee shops and jogging through Downtown. He was on "Jimmy Kimmel Live" to promote the movie "Brothers," which arrived in theaters yesterday.

Mr. Gyllenhaal wasn't the only movie star singing the praises of Pittsburgh this week. Thursday was electronic media day on the set of Oscar winner Russell Crowe's new thriller, "The Next Three Days." While filming scenes in Sharpsburg, Mr. Crowe told reporters from KDKA-TV and WTAE that he's found time to ride more than 500 miles on his bicycle during months of shooting locally.

"I think it's probably one of the friendliest cities I've spent time in in America and I've really enjoyed that," Mr. Crowe said. "Maybe it's because I'm an outsider and I see things a little clearer, but nobody ever talks about the beauty of the architecture in Pittsburgh, the churches, the steeples."

Their experiences in Pittsburgh appeared to be far different from what Sienna Miller encountered when she was here in 2006 to film "Mysteries of Pittsburgh." She drew the city's wrath when she insulted the Steel City in an interview in Rolling Stone magazine, illustrating the point with a word that starts with "sh" and rhymed with "Pittsburgh."

But she later publicly apologized to Mayor Luke Ravenstahl. "I really didn't mean anything," she explained. "I've had a great time here."

"Love and Other Drugs" and "The Next Three Days" are expected to be released in theaters next year.

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