Kaylee Hottle, the young actress known to millions of MonsterVerse fans for her roles in two Godzilla movies, has died at the age of 18.
Her father, Joshua Hottle, told TMZ that Kaylee was killed in a car accident on Tuesday morning in Maryland.
Hottle, who was deaf, portrayed Jia, a young girl who forms a powerful bond with Godzilla and communicates through sign language, in 2021’s Godzilla vs Kong and returned for the 2024 follow-up, Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire.
Before breaking through in the blockbuster Godzilla franchise, she appeared in commercials connected to products and services for the deaf and hard of hearing community.
Joshua shared the heartbreaking news with followers during a livestream titled “I am taking a flight that I never would like to take,” where, according to TMZ, he explained in American Sign Language that he had to travel from Texas to recover his daughter’s body.
He said that shortly after learning of the crash, officials called to tell him that Kaylee’s heart had stopped while she was being transported to the hospital.
Kaylee Hottle, who played Jia in Godzilla vs Kong, has died at 18 after a car crash.
The actress appeared in 2021’s Godzilla vs Kong and its sequel, Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire.
Kaylee played Jia in the two Godzilla films and had the script translated into ASL with the help of her parents and another individual.
‘I was fine with memorizing the script and signing my lines, but the tough part was signing out the “spoken” parts because we had to change it, and sometimes they’d tell us it was wrong but they didn’t understand that ASL changes almost everything,’ she said during a 2021 interview with The Daily Moth.
‘Because the interpreter said what I said. The producer and director would sometimes say “Don’t say that” and want me to follow the script, but the signs for that sentence would be different in ASL.
‘There was one instance where there was a misunderstanding between us related to the ASL translation, which caused a delay, but they later understood.’
Kaylee also taught her castmates how to sign: ‘Teaching the cast how to sign. They had never interacted with a deaf person before. I had to explain how to sign and use facial expressions. That was the hard part, but when they picked up on it, it was fine. I didn’t really have challenges, they were very accommodating. Some of the workers learned how to sign.’
Kaylee said her character had a ‘special’ connection with King Kong.
‘Because Kong and my character had a special bond. We signed with each other. Not with Godzilla, it was different. Then later we met,’ she said.
Kaylee’s co-star Alexander Skarsgård sang her praises at the time, calling her a scene stealer.
Kaylee’s character Jia communicated with Kong using sign language
Rebecca Hall played Jia’s adopted mother, Dr. Ilene Andrews
He even learned American Sign Language for her.
Kaylee ‘steals the movie,’ he told Junkee in 2021.
‘It’s her first movie,’ he said. ‘It’s fascinating how comfortable she is in front of the camera and how quickly she takes notes from the director Adam [Wingard].
‘He’ll explain something and she’ll be like ‘got it, got it’ then she’ll just do it and everyone’s like ‘the f— … how did she?’ She’s so professional and just incredibly … there’s so much going on on her face, her expression and the subtleties of that is fascinating to watch.’
In addition to her role in the Godzilla films, Kaylee appeared on an episode of Magnum P.I. and did commercials for products which helped deaf and hard of hearing individuals.
She did a public service announcement for the video chat messenger Glide and a commercial for Convo Relay.
Kaylee was also featured in 10 Deaf Children: One Powerful Message.
