Hell Hath No Fury Like Holtz Scorned an Exclusive Spotlight on Keith Szarabajka
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EMBRACING THE VENGEANCE
In terms of being familiar with the world of Angel, Keith was just as in the dark as Holtz. "I had heard of Angel and watched it from time to time, and I had watched some Buffy, but I was not a regular watcher by any means. I have two children and I basically don't get to watch anything. I have to fight for the TV set," he confessed. "Angel and Buffy are a little too scary for my kids because they are relatively young. But the older one got into watching Angel. We talked about how it wasn't real and it was all just pretend, like reading a story. He liked it. He actually appreciated the humor in it to a large extent." However, being unfamiliar with the escapades of Angel Investigations did not stop Keith from nailing the important role of Holtz. "They were looking for this character Holtz. I was away in New York on a vacation and my agent submitted my tape to the casting director for Angel, who then saw that I had done a scene from Profit, which was on the tape. David Greenwalt had executive produced [Profit] and co written with John McNamara, who is the producer of Fast Lane. David said, 'Keith Szarabajka? Sign him up!' And that's what he did. It was very nice.
"In the scene in which I had to confront my vampire daughter; I had no problem crying on every take. I was constantly weeping."
He guaranteed me 8 episodes and I ended up doing 11, which was great." Despite Holtz's demise, Keith undoubtedly enjoyed every moment while working on Angel. "I still wish I were doing it because I really enjoyed the job. I enjoyed working on the set. I enjoyed the character that I had to do. I liked the crew and I liked the writing. It was a good job for me," he reflected. While no particular moment or anecdote came to his memory, Keith had nothing but praise for the complete atmosphere of the set. "It was just a general sense of being welcome and being part of the family. I really never had any problem with anyone on the set in any way, shape, or form, and that's unique."
Szarabajka explores a father's pain in the Angel episode, "Lullaby"
Holtz was one of Angel's most emotionally complex and tormented characters. In approaching such a challenge, Keith drew upon many resources, including his own experiences as a father, as he explained, "In the scene in which I had to confront my [vampire] daughter; I had no problem crying on every take in that. I was constantly weeping. I had to always fight against it too. All the emotion you see in that particular scene was true, was actual." Holtz was also a difficult character to embrace in that Keith had to prepare himself to portray a man adjusting to a foreign land. Unfortunately, he would like to have explored Holtz's adjustment a bit more. "Frankly, I don't think that they did enough of that. There wasn't enough of the 'stranger in a strange land', but then it wasn't a series called Holtz, it's a series called Angel. We did a little bit in the beginning, but then they quickly went beyond that and it would only pop up every once in a while." In order to better understand Holtz psychologically, Keith broke him down and concentrated on his core values and beliefs, "The way that I dealt with it mentally was understanding that Holtz is a very honest, man of faith. He just brought that with him. It was the same as if you were an English explorer in the 17th or 18th Century who had gone to some far land, like Captain James Cook did. He was still English when he went to the land even though the lands were estranged to him, if not more so than the 21st Century was to Holtz. So he brought his Englishness, his sense of faith and country, and his sense of honor intact with him," he said. However, like Cook, Holtz attempted to control too massive a situation. "But of course, as we know, Cook did end up dying, killed by natives. I think that something similar happened to Holtz. He was an English explorer who died in a foreign land, overcome by something he thought he could handle, but wasn't able to."
OUT OF THE QUOR'TOTH, ONTO THE PAGE
Keith is always looking for new ways to challenge himself physically and mentally. His diverse hobbies range from cooking to kick boxing. But don't expect him to stop acting anytime soon. Keith is devoted to his craft and all its forms including, voice-overs, cartoons, and books on tape. "I just try to put a full court press on and do whatever I can," Keith stated. Currently, Keith has been utilizing his creative energy in a different fashion: writing. "My writing has been picking up, oddly enough. That's a good thing. There's always some compensation. It's been a little slow in terms of getting film and TV work, and even commercial work, but in terms of writing it has been great. I'm not at the high priced end of writing yet, but I'm getting paid for it, and people are interested in what I'm having to say and write, so I'm looking forward to really pursuing that." Excited, Keith also explained how he was recently hired to write a script. "Now I'm taking to screenwriting. I'm writing a very difficult movie for someone. We're sort of butting heads a little. The producer/director wants to do a much simpler movie than I want to do. Since he's going to pay me, I'll end up having to do his movie, but I'll try to sneak my movie in there somehow. And it's a challenge to do that."
Darktale Productions, the Nexus of Szarabajka's work
With his writing blossoming, Keith has high hopes for his own company, Darktale Productions, whose roots are found in the English translation of his name. "My last name means 'dark fairytale' in Polish. 'Bajka' is a fairytale and 'Szara' means dark or gray: obscure. As my writing career expands hopefully Darktale Productions will expand with it because they are one in the same." When visiting Darktale online, people can register and have access to Keith's writing, including numerous screenplays. "Some of them are old, some of them are new. I put several different ones on there. 'Double Dribble' is a presentation pilot (which means it is not finished). It is one that actually people are looking at pretty closely right now so we'll see what happens. I also have one on there that is pretty old, 'Divemaster,' that I was writing with someone else, so don't hold me on that one," he laughed, "but the other ones you can." With numerous writing projects underway, an expansive acting resume, and a persistent drive for excellence, the future for Keith Szarabajka will be very far from a hell dimension.
Written by CoA Writer, Jeff Ritchie
CityofAngel would like to extend our thanks to Keith Szarabajka for graciously offering his time for an enjoyable interview.
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