‘Devastated’: Millie Bobby Brown leads emotional tributes after Godzilla co-star Kaylee Hottle dies at 18
Oscar winner Marlee Matlin also paid tribute to Hottle
Kaylee Hottle’s Godzilla co-stars and members of the deaf community are remembering the young actor after her death at 18.
Millie Bobby Brown, who worked with Hottle on Godzilla vs. Kong, said she was “devastated” by the news.
“I’m so devastated to hear this. You will be deeply missed Kaylee,” Brown wrote on Instagram.
Oscar winner Marlee Matlin also paid tribute to Hottle, describing her as “sweet” and saying she was “absolutely gutted” by her death.
“May her beauty and talent be a memory for eternity,” Matlin wrote.
Hottle, who was deaf, became known around the world for playing Jia in Godzilla vs. Kong and its sequel Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire. She died at 18 in a car crash in Maryland earlier this week.
Kaylee Hottle’s co-stars remember her
Alaqua Cox, Hottle’s co-star in the upcoming film What Doesn’t Kill Us and a fellow deaf actor, also shared an emotional tribute.
“I’m so heartbroken. My heart goes out to her family during this unimaginable time,” Cox wrote on Instagram.
Hottle’s Godzilla co-star Alexander Skarsgård had previously spoken warmly about working with the young actor. He learned American Sign Language to communicate with Hottle on set and praised her professionalism.
Speaking to Junkee in 2021, Skarsgård said he and others working on the film were impressed by Hottle’s ability to quickly take on the director’s notes and incorporate them into her performance.
Troy Kotsur pays tribute to the young actor
Oscar winner Troy Kotsur, who starred in CODA, also remembered Hottle after news of her death.
Kotsur said the tragedy made him think of his own daughter and reminded him not to take time with loved ones for granted.
He offered his “deepest condolences” to Hottle’s family and said he had no words to express the pain of what had happened.
Texas School for the Deaf mourns Kaylee Hottle
The Texas School for the Deaf in Austin, where Hottle was a senior, also paid tribute to her.
The school said counselling and support services would be available to her classmates and friends as they mourned her death.
“Please keep Kaylee’s loved ones in your thoughts as we mourn this tremendous loss together,” the school said.
Hottle and her father, Joshua Hottle, were both deaf and came from a multi-generational deaf family.
Her father announced her death in an American Sign Language Facebook livestream and later spoke about the family's grief.
“Kaylee’s mom and four siblings are crushed. They are together at home, grieving,” he said in an ASL post.
Who was Kaylee Hottle?
Hottle made her breakthrough as Jia in Adam Wingard’s 2021 monster movie Godzilla vs. Kong.
She returned for 2024’s Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire, playing a deaf orphan who forms a special bond with Kong and communicates with him through sign language. Her character is later taken in by Dr Ilene Andrews, played by Rebecca Hall.
In a 2024 interview with The Associated Press, Hottle said she had not watched monster movies before being cast in Godzilla vs. Kong. Her father helped her understand the genre.
“I look up to a lot of people, but the one person I look up to, the few people I look up to mostly, are my parents and my sisters,” she said through an interpreter.
Hottle had previously appeared in an episode of Magnum P.I. and was listed as part of the cast of the upcoming film What Doesn’t Kill Us.
Her work in the Godzilla films also made her a notable young performer within the deaf community. At just 18, Hottle’s career was still in its early stages, but her performance as Jia had already left a lasting impression on her co-stars, classmates and audiences.
