I'm curious; how sure are you all that Danielle is French? Was the jacket labelled "Rousseau" hers? Were the French transmissions and the French writing on her maps meant for her or others on her team who were French, while she herself is from another country? Though Mira is an outstanding actress, is there a reason they chose one from E. Europe rather than a good one who was French to fill the role?

I believe Mira was selected because she's a great actress and was the best person for the job. She's from Europe (the casting call indicated a 'European' accent would suffice, rather than specifying French) and she handily met the other criteria (age range, physical condition, etc.). Plus, she's a relatively well-known presence in both the US and European SF communities ( = pulling in more LOST viewers on two continents).

As for Danielle the character, she has never confirmed that she is French, nor do I recall her ever stating that 'Rousseau' is her last name (that's an assumption Sayid made when he saw her jacket in 'Solitary'). D & C have pointed out in several podcasts that Mira is from Croatia, so I wouldn't put it past the show's writers to do something with that at some point - like having Sawyer call her the Crazy French Chick once too often and having her retort that she's from Yugoslavia and she's tired of being called French.

That might make an interesting throwaway plot point but it wouldn't change anything about her - she'd still be the Yugoslav lover of a Frenchman killed on a scientific expedition. Same with the last name...unless it's actually 'Linus', having it be something other than 'Rousseau' doesn't really alter how the other characters interact with her.

V/R
John

Could be an alias, could be a married name, could be an oversight. Although they've left themselves some wiggle room; "Russo", though of Italian origin, is a common name in Croatia.

Her name is Rousseau not russo.

I wonder if they're ever going to address this issue? Damon and Carlton even joke that the French woman having a Croatian accent is one of "the" Lost Mysteries. ;)

I wonder if they're ever going to address this issue? Damon and Carlton even joke that the French woman having a Croatian accent is one of "the" Lost Mysteries. ;)

Ok, I'm dumb - so does Danielle have a croatian accent? :confused:
I know she has an accent but 98% of the time I couldn't recognise an accent should the world depend on it!

Anyway, has she ever said her name was Rosseau? I know she's said Danielle but pretty much anyone from anywhere could be called Danielle.

I just thought myself anyway, even if she was French - why have all that writing and the transmittion in french?
She knows English and English is like, the more universal language so wouldn't it have made more since for the transmittion at least to be in English? Or even both French and English?
Unless, do you think she learned English by herself? She was maybe learning it when they got to the island in the first place.......but then, how do you teach yourself a language without a book or something?

Man I'm even more confused now *lol*

Ok, I'm dumb - so does Danielle have a croatian accent? :confused:
I know she has an accent but 98% of the time I couldn't recognise an accent should the world depend on it!

Anyway, has she ever said her name was Rosseau? I know she's said Danielle but pretty much anyone from anywhere could be called Danielle.

I just thought myself anyway, even if she was French - why have all that writing and the transmittion in french?
She knows English and English is like, the more universal language so wouldn't it have made more since for the transmittion at least to be in English? Or even both French and English?
Unless, do you think she learned English by herself? She was maybe learning it when they got to the island in the first place.......but then, how do you teach yourself a language without a book or something?

Man I'm even more confused now *lol*

Well, Mira has a Croatian accent and she's pretty much using her own. She does, however, speak French, as well as German and a bit of Italian and Spanish. :)

In the first episode Danielle appeared in, Solitary, Sayid noticed a jacket with the name Rousseau on it. He said the name out loud, and Danielle asked him how he knew her name, so yes, she has essentially said that her last name is Rousseau.

Not sure why her transmissions and such were in French and not in English. They really do seem to try to emphasize the Frenchness(?) even though presumably no-one asked Mira to change her accent - but David Fury is the one who created the character, I believe, and he left the writing staff some time in Season 1, so what he intended for the character and what her story has become may not necessarily match up. Who knows at this point.