Published: July 02, 2016| 07:00 AM

Leading film and theatre actor Willem Dafoe, a two-time Oscar nominee is this year’s recipient of the Crystal Globe for Outstanding Contribution to World Cinema. In his honor, KVIFF will also be screening Abel Ferrara’s Pasolini today at 10:30pm in the Grand Hall and Martin Scorese’s The Last Temptation of Christ on July 3 at 11pm in the Outdoor Cinema. Dafoe chooses projects based on the diversity of roles and chances to work with bold auteurs, like director Lars von Trier.

You collaborated on the script of Pasolini. That’s kind of unusual, no?

I collaborated on all levels. In fact the scriptwriter is on the jury here – Mauricio Braucci. I’ve made five films with Abel (Ferrara), and each time I get more involved in the process. It’s not always the case on films, but when I’m asked to participate, I’m always happy to. I like being part of the fabric of a movie, and not just being an actor doing my part. I feel responsible for the whole thing.

He must be entertaining to work with.

He’s my neighbor in Rome. We’re two Americans living in Rome.

So you both have a passion for Rome and for Pasolini, I suppose.

Yes, that’s right.

You look almost exactly like him…

I don’t so much, but we had some help with lenses and hair color and that sort of thing. But we were shooting on so many of the actual locations, and I was wearing some of his clothes... also some jewelry. Sometimes we were shooting with people who knew him. It was flirting with ghosts because we were in the actual places and his memory was still alive in those places. So that’s what made it real for us. We tried to take a factual approach. We did extensive interviews and research beforehand. Mauricio and Abel did many, many interviews with people who knew him and who were there in the period of time we deal with in the film.

You can read the whole interview in today's Festival Daily.