So ever since returning from Comic Con and watching the new leaked Dharma video I was thinking it would be cool if someone could interview Francois Chau, the actor who plays Dr. Pierre Chang aka Dr. Candle (Wickmund and Haliwax).
Well guess what!? Our good friend Josh over at Lostspoilers.org scored an interview!! Not only did he get the interview he was able to get some potential spoilers for Season 5 of LOST.
Chau confirmed that we are supposed to see more of Dr. Candle in Season 5 and that Orchid Video Locke watched was 1 of 3 videos. Chau also confirmed that he knew who the crying baby and voice behind the camera are, but could not reveal the info.
Yes, maybe nothing major for some of you, but either way this is a great little interview and worth the read.
Thanks again to Josh for the heads up and here are the spoiler parts of the interview:
LS: Let’s start with some of the basic questions: Do you watch Lost?
FC: I did not watch it regularly in the beginning, but I do now. It’s hard to enjoy sometimes because I know what’s going to happen.
When you auditioned, who exactly were you auditioning for? Dr. Marvin Candle? Dr. Mark Wickmund? Man from orientation film?
I auditioned for the character of “Dr. Marvin Candle”. The other alias came later.
Why do you think your character’s aliases all refer to candles? (candle, wick, wax)
I think the writers are just having some fun, but it’s “Lost” so I could be wrong.
In the latest finale episode, Locke was watching the Orchid orientation video when it suddenly started rewinding. Was there any more of the video filmed, or were we shown everything?
The Orchid video you saw was all that was filmed at the time, but it is supposed to be 1 of 3 orientation films for the Orchid Station, so you might see some more later.
The producers have said that season 5 will focus more on the Dharma Initiative. Do you know when we might see your character again? Were you told anything in advance?
I am told that we will see a little more of “Dr. Candle” in season 5. How much more, I don’t know.
In the beginning of the video there is a baby crying off screen. Do you happen to know who this child is? Could it be your character’s son? Is it someone we already know? Some fans have been speculating that it could be Miles.
Yes, I know who the “crying baby” is, but you will have to keep on speculating for a while longer because I can’t say just yet. Sorry.
In the video, your character still has both of his arms, but it seems that he knows that he will lose one of them soon. Do you know how it happened? It could not have been in the purge, because he said he died in the purge, and we’ve seen him alive with a fake left arm.
I was only following the directions in the script about the arm. I don’t know anymore.
Can you tell us who this source is? Is it the voice behind the camera?
The “credible” source of Pierre Chang’s info is from the voice behind the camera, but I can’t tell you who it is.
Can you tell us how this video will play into the future of the show? Could this mean that we will see more of your character?
As I said earlier, yes, I think we will see a little more of “Dr. Candle” in season 5.
Read Full Interview Here: LOSTSpoilers.org
Posted By: The ODI
Francois Chau Interview - More of Dr. Candle in Season 5!!
(Comments: 47)
Labels:
Dr. Candle,
Francois Chau,
Haliwax,
Interviews,
Pierre Chang,
Season 5,
The Orchid,
Wickmund
Post Your Comment (looking for the old comment form?)
N O T E
Name-calling, personal attacks, spamming, excessive self-promotion, condescending pomposity, general assiness, racism, sexism, any-other-ism, Shipper bating, homophobia, acrophobia, excessive CAPS and destructive (versus constructive) criticism will get you BANNED from the party.
If you have a problem or an issue with a comment, do NOT post it in the comments, email me here. If you reply/respond to an unnecessary comment, your post will be deleted as well.
Subscribe to our 
Follow our 
Sign up to our 
47 Comments:
Why does he speak like he knows so much? I thought they usually keep these people in the dark.
These are some sweet spoilers. I never realised Francois Chau was so well informed.
The “credible” source of Pierre Chang’s info is from the voice behind the camera, but I can’t tell you who it is.
Confirmation that the voice behind the camera is Chang's source. Awesome.
Yes, I know who the “crying baby” is, but you will have to keep on speculating for a while longer because I can’t say just yet. Sorry.
It sounds like that baby could be more significant than it first appeared. That alone should inspire a theory or two.
Plus two more Orchid films. It's been a good week so far :)
Thanks guys. Glad you like it!
Some people on my site were like "I thought you said there were spoilers in this interview. I didn't see any." It sort of made me a bit angry, but I guess it comes with the territory. :P
I count at least 3 spoilers in this piece. And the information about more Orchid videos rates very high on my scale. Thumbs up, great work :)
@Daniel:
First of all, sweet interview! Did you talk to Mr. Chao directly or was it an email interview?
If the former, the way he reacted to the question with the baby, do you think it is more or less likely that the child is Chang's baby and/or Miles?
Whoops. I totally logged into my other account. I posted as Daniel Carter a minute ago, but my name is Josh. :P
Thanks T.L.A. : )
@ the big wee hag
Unfortunately it was an e-mail interview, as I don't live in the states. (you can see from my blog that I'm Hungarian :P )
As T.L.A said earlier, I think him confirming that he knows who the baby is, means that we either know him, or or will know him, and he will play a role on the show. What I understood from his comment was that it's someone we already know. ; )
@Josh:
ah, okay, thank you. I assumed he was hinting we knew the character, but he managed to be admirably cagey.
And I'm in Europe, too, nice to meet a "neighbour!"
Before the baby speculation gets out of hand (see Annie) I'm going to make a guess and say its Charlotte.
Thanks for the great tid-bit! I can't believe I never even thought about the baby possibly being Miles. Great stuff!
Patrick, while I originally thought it was Charlotte, after watching the HQ version of the video, I realized this was not possible, as Mr. Chang says "Take him outside" - Referring to a male child.
I guess Miles would be a better guess then. I guess he could be Chang's son.
In Meet Kevin Johnson Miles practically admitted to Michael that he was using an alias. So his real name could be Chang. Maybe a bit too obvious though..
Well, I wouldn't say Miles is too obvious because its was Francis Chau who made a point to imply that the baby is important and not the writers. It was a lot more subtle until this interview when Chau tells us to keep speculating. Still surprised how much he knows considering how little he is on the show.
how is he sooo in the know, the main characters dont even give up this much info on spoilers, maybe they really know but dont wanna ruin it for us so they play dumb
the baby, the orchid videos, the arm. all very interesting
i'm wondering if sum kinda invisble man rewound the orchid video as locke was watching it.
if the past knows what the future will bring and they change it, course correction will take place right. theres 1 team saying u cant change the future, and 1 team saying u can and we will.
what if the crying baby was locke, after alpert watched him in the nursery, he brought him to the island and left him with dharma and he cried alot like aaron did in one episode cuz of the virus, then brought him back to america.
sorta like aaron was on the island, now in america being raised by another???
good to get the theories floating again
"The “credible” source of Pierre Chang’s info is from the voice behind the camera, but I can’t tell you who it is."
So... assuming Faraday made the video, he will see a lot on the Island in S5.
"it is supposed to be 1 of 3 orientation films for the Orchid Station"
Cool!
It's so nice when a true Lost fan asks the right questions.
Thanks for this great interview, Josh!
very cool! thanks!!
The guy behind the camera is ... Daniel.
The baby is .... Daniel.
We'll see in a future episode how Daniel travelled back in time using The Orchid to meet Chang ... and the old Doctor Who / Back to the Future "you can't meet yourself!" thing.
Why will Daniel travel back..? I don't yet know - probably something to do with the new, evil Dharma Initiative...?
In Meet Kevin Johnson, Miles did NOT "practically admit" to Michael that he (Miles) was using an alias. He merely asked Michael if his real name was Kevin Johnson, and observed that most of the people on the freighter were using aliases. He made this as a droll comment, and it spooked Michael because, of course, Michael WAS using an alias.
Furthermore, I hate it when people keep trying to link characters merely because they happen to be Asian, or black. I see no reason to speculate that Miles is Chang/Candle, or that they are related in any way -- any more than Miles or Chang is related to Sun and Jin, or Locke for that matter.
And I hate it when people keep trying to link characters merely because they happen to be women, like Kate is Annie, Rousseau is Annie, Libby is Annie and Charlotte is Annie :)
In Meet Kevin Johnson, Miles did NOT "practically admit" to Michael that he (Miles) was using an alias.
Granted, reading between the lines is unreliable. We'll see. Miles Straume? (Maelstrom) Hmmm. Maybe he was just Joe King? ;)
I see no reason to speculate that Miles is Chang/Candle, or that they are related in any way
I'm not a believer in it, but how about because there's a possibility that the baby is Chang's son and the age consistency with Miles added to the 'born on the island' discussion already surrounding both he and Charlotte? I Hadn't heard the Miles is Candle version. In any case I think it's perfectly reasonable to speculate about character connections (improbable or otherwise) when said connections have always been a feature of the show. Regardless of the more empirical viewer's chagrin.
I happen to agree with faith when people do that in real life. Just because your asian, doesn't mean you're all related. If Miles and Candle were just two dudes walking down the street, it would be wrong to just assume they're related. That being said, tv shows more often than not, cast according to race because we can't suspend out disbelief so much. So it's not totally outrageous to assume that they could be related on a tv show that's all about strange connections.
Do you think maybe he knows these things because they were already filmed? He seems to know a lot about some things, but when it came to his arm he was pretty clueless. Awesome interview! It seems to read like he was still in character.
"Furthermore, I hate it when people keep trying to link characters merely because they happen to be Asian, or black."
This is a Lost, where there are an endless amount of character connections and when a character's age, race, gender, and background seem to possibly fit, its doesn't seem unfair to make a connection.
"This is a Lost, where there are an endless amount of character connections and when a character's age, race, gender, and background seem to possibly fit, its doesn't seem unfair to make a connection."
I have to agree here. Traits suggest connections, especially within a world that makes significant the ways in which characters are connected. I mean, coming off the knowledge that Jack and Claire are brother and sister, I think it's safe for all those involved to wonder who else might be related to who else.
So when you see P. Chang, in a setting that looks to be his home, tell someone off camera to shush a crying baby boy, it's not an ignoble stretch to think that the person off camera could be his wife, and that, if so, that could be his son, and, if so, his son could be Asian, and, if so, what Asian characters on the show would match that age.
Hmmm, 30 years ago in 2008, so 26 years ago in 2004. What Asian male character on Lost is about 26 or 27 years old?
That kinda whittles it down, don't you think?
OOh confirmation of what some of us thought from the time the video was released, that the "reliable source" is the voice behind the camera...hello Daniel! Nice
Nice interview, thank you!
Again, any speculation that the baby is Miles I stay away from. My thoughts on this type of speculation with no theory to back it up are not my cup of tea. Perhaps some should read up on the multitude of different Asian cultures before making this analogy. There is some serious tunnel vision where minorities are concerned when it comes to Lost speculation.
first of all, saying asian race is a minority is kinda stupid. china has like as much people as the rest of the world together (i'm exaggerating)
second, considering it was chang's baby and it is someone we know, it HAS to be asian. it is science here. not racism.
After Chau basically implies in an interview that its someone already on the show, clearly its racist to assume that the baby who appeared to likely be the son of an Asian character might be the only major Asian character on the show who makes sense.
second, considering it was chang's baby and it is someone we know, it HAS to be asian.
Just for the sake of the argument: we don't know if it is Chang's baby. For all our information it could be with someone who is visiting, or Chang and Daniel went into the house with the video equipment and the baby belongs to the family who lives there.
I'm just pointing out that people were also jumping on the idea that it just had to be Charlotte before it became apparent that Chang had referred to the kid as "he."
I also don't see why Chau implying the audience knows the baby proves that it has to be Candle's, or Asian, or really anything else. It seems quite likely he knows who the kid is because the name was in the script, not because someone told him.
that's why i said considering. like supposing
that's a decent bit of info revealing more orchid films, cant wait to see more.
Well, "considering" means "bearing in mind," not "supposing," but my point still stands that we really don't have enough information to say that that's even Chang's house, not to mention his son.
Ok sooo in our Recap podcast for Episode 4x02 when the freighties were introduced to us...i sarcastically joked that miles was candle's son....
of course my podcast partner and i had a good laugh about it....and joked how some people even said maybe rose and eko were related...
however, the more i think of the possibility of miles some how being connected to dharma and candle the more i think it is possible...
i just liked the fact that we got to see candle out of his "element" and in casual 70s attire similar to ben did in the picture that miles had...
oh snap...both were wearing 70s clothes...and miles had a picture of ben...maybe ummm ben and candle are related....!! :p
Oh... so... If it's Lost, it's ok to think that Miles and Cheng are related because they are both Asian... and Locke must be Charlotte's father because they both have green eyes... and Jack must be Claire's daughter, because they both have... nothing. Oh, not to mention Abbadon is Walt in the future... please.
Geez, people. Though it's obvious that the baby thing is meant to be important or else they wouldn't have made such a video, it's really stupid to assume the kind of stuff you are.
How is it stupid? It seems very reasonable to speculate that the baby is Chang's son, as he is crying in Chang's video. Yeah, its possible that Chang is hanging around other people's babies and making future videos in a houselike setting that isn't his own home for whatever reason, but its not unreasonable at all to speculate that it is his home and that it is his family that he is yelling at. If the baby is Chang's son or relative, I'd say its reasonable to assume he's Asian. If he's Asian, I'd say its reasonable to speculate its Miles, the only Asian character connected to the island with a mysterious island-related backstory. Its not tunnel vision, its deductive reasoning.
Upon further review of the video... it's possible that the crying baby belongs to Chang, and if that's the case, it's possible that it is Miles. There are other people in the room, including Daniel (probably) behind the camera, and Lara, a red-haired woman that could be the child's mother or caretaker, which has led some to speculate that the child could be Charlotte. Except that Chang says, "Get HIM out of here," meaning that the baby is a boy.
But my point still stands re: rampant speculation of possible connections based solely on a person's ethnic status, such as Abaddon being Walt, etc. Yes, this is Lost, but there are some things that are just too weird even for Lost... LOL
As for Miles using an alias... if so, he was using the same name as a ghostbuster in LA, so he didn't just make it up to get on the freighter, as Michael and other crew members apparently did. I still contend that conversation was more about Michael's "Meet Kevin Johnson" alias and possibly about Miles' supernatural abilities to learn the secrets of others... just as he knew Charlotte had been on the island before.
perhaps, candle's home was in othersville...!?
perhaps, candle's home was in othersville...!?
Do you mean the barracks? I'm pretty sure this is meant to be on the island, and since the barracks seem to be the old Dharma stead, it makes sense that he lives there.
Of course, if Chang is living with the Hostiles, they are a lot more modern than we previously thought.
Yeah, its possible that Chang is hanging around other people's babies and making future videos in a houselike setting that isn't his own home for whatever reason, but its not unreasonable at all to speculate that it is his home
One reason why I was sceptical that this is his home was actually the video equipment. It's the 70s and he's on a remote island with his cult-like employers, is it likely that he has his own video camera?
big wee hag said:
"It's the 70s and he's on a remote island with his cult-like employers, is it likely that he has his own video camera?"
yes, actually. or at least the "borrowed one" to make this very rushed and secretive video. considering Chang is the host of all the Dharma video's he's probably high up in the "video department" and may even store the equipment in his house.
this is LOST. we just don't know, but i would say yes, it is likely that he has his own camera, or at least clearance to get his hands on one.
@the odi
i was thinking about what u said about chau and ben both in 70's clothes, thinking maybe chau or daniel took the pic of ben, seeing as how he knows what the future will hold. and that could be a bridge to miles being his son, him passin it down.
but ben wouldnt have been an adult in the 70's, unless he time traveled back to the 70s and dressed accordingly. he was there erasing some of his future mistakes
the speculation never ends
its obvious the voice behind the camera with dr. candle is.....DANIEL FARADAY!!!! just listen to it...
its daniel faraday behind the camera
Wow. Look what happened to me yesterday. I went to the doctor for a pain I've been having. And during the visit, the doc leaves the room for a second to go find something, and leaves the door open. So I listen to him and 5 others doctors discuss this video, :S (I am from Argentina, and not most Lost fans surf websites and stuff... it's more like a TV show to watch only on TV, no ARG's or spoilers...) And they had some interesting theories as well... When the doc came back I kinda lost the patient-doctor relation and started talking to him about Lost... it was awesome.
Samus, that would be very cool.
IT/S CLAIR and jr on he run through the time tunnle. or it's sun and here kid or it is penny and here future/past kid,lol. or the doc and sun had a kid,oop's.