Godzilla vs. Kong star Rebecca Hall shared an emotional tribute to her onscreen adopted daughter, Kaylee Hottle, following the teenager’s death at age 18.
“Devastated to listen to this news. My heart goes out to your loved ones. You can be missed, Kaylee,” Hall, 44, captioned a series of photos of herself and Hottle on the set of 2021’s Godzilla vs. Kong and its 2024 sequel, Godzilla x Kong: The Latest Empire, posted to her Instagram account on Tuesday, July 21.
Hottle played Jia, a deaf teenager who’s adopted by Hall’s Dr. Ilene Andrews, within the fantasy movies. Her character communicated with King Kong via sign language.
Hottle’s father, Joshua Hottle, told TMZ that the actress died following a automobile accident in Maryland within the early hours of Tuesday. He also confirmed the news to his followers on Facebook in a livestream, stating that he was flying from Texas to say her body.
The Frederick County Sheriff’s Office confirmed that authorities responded to a fatal single-vehicle collision in Ijamsville, Maryland, at 2:52 a.m. on Tuesday.
“The preliminary investigation revealed that a 1995 Honda Accord, operated by a 19-year-old Frederick man, traveled off the appropriate side of the two-lane roadway and struck a culvert,” a press release said. “Excessive speed is believed to be a contributing think about the collision.”
The police department said that two passengers were within the automobile in addition to the driving force. The motive force was taken to an area hospital with what are believed to be non-life-threatening injuries, while the opposite passenger declined medical assistance on the scene.
“The second passenger was identified as Kaylee Hottle, 18, of Kyle, TX,” the discharge said. “Hottle was transported from the scene to an area trauma center, where she was later pronounced deceased.”
Hottle was born in Atlanta and comes from a multi-generational deaf family. She was raised in Austin, Texas, and attended the Texas School for the Deaf.
In addition to the Godzilla vs. Kong movies, she appeared in a 2021 episode of CBS’ Magnum P.I. playing a personality called Joon.
In 2021, Hottle’s Godzilla vs. Kong costar Alexander Skarsgård revealed that he learned American Sign Language (ASL) to be able to communicate with the young actress on set.
“It’s her first movie. It’s fascinating how comfortable she is in front of the camera and the way quickly she takes notes from the director Adam [Wingard],” he told Junkee. “He’ll explain something and she or he’ll be like, ‘Got it, got it.’ Then she’ll just do it and everybody’s like, ‘The f*** … how did she?’”
“She’s so skilled,” the actor added. “There’s a lot occurring on her face, her expression, and the subtleties of that’s fascinating to observe.”