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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 hear this news. My heart goes out to your family. You will 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 New Empire, posted to her Instagram account on Tuesday, July 21.
Hottle played Jia, a deaf youngster who is adopted by Hall's Dr. Ilene Andrews, in the fantasy films. Her character communicated with King Kong via sign language.
Hottle's father, Joshua Hottle, told TMZ that the actress died following a car accident in Maryland in 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 claim her body.
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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 right side of the two-lane roadway and struck a culvert," a press release said. "Excessive speed is believed to be a contributing factor in the collision."
The police department said that two passengers were in the car as well as the driver. The driver was taken to a local hospital with what are believed to be non-life-threatening injuries, while the other passenger declined medical assistance at the scene.
"The second passenger was identified as Kaylee Hottle, 18, of Kyle, TX," the release said. "Hottle was transported from the scene to an area trauma center, where she was later pronounced deceased."
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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.
As well as the Godzilla vs. Kong films, she appeared in a 2021 episode of CBS' Magnum P.I. playing a character called Joon.
In 2021, Hottle's Godzilla vs. Kong costar Alexander Skarsgård revealed that he learned American Sign Language (ASL) in order 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 how quickly she takes notes from the director Adam [Wingard]," he told Junkee. "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," the actor added. "There's so much going on on her face, her expression, and the subtleties of that is fascinating to watch."
