 Matt Damon and Heath Ledger as Wilhelm " Will " and Jakob " Jake " Grimm : Johnny Depp was Gilliam 's first choice for Will Grimm , but producer Bob Weinstein believed Depp was not commercially famous enough for the role . Damon joked that Weinstein " was kicking himself because half @-@ way through production , Pirates of the Caribbean came out and Depp was all of a sudden a big sensation . " Ledger met Gilliam in November 2002 when Nicola Pecorini recommended the actor to the director , comparing him to Depp . Gilliam intended to cast Ledger opposite Depp . Damon and Ledger were originally cast in opposite roles before they petitioned to have their characters switched . Damon had wanted to work with Gilliam for years and actively campaigned to land the role of Will Grimm . The actor " grew up loving [ Gilliam 's ] Time Bandits , the way that movie created this weird but totally convincing world " . Gilliam elected to have Damon wear a prosthetic nose , but Weinstein said " it would have distracted audiences from Damon 's star @-@ studded good looks " . Gilliam later reasoned that " it would have been the most expensive nose job ever " . 
