Interview with Kaylee Hottle, Deaf actress in “Godzilla vs. Kong”

Renca Dunn, Daily Moth Reporter: Hello, Kaylee! We’re thrilled to have you here for an interview with The Daily Moth about your experience.

Kaylee Hottle, Actress: Thank you, I’m thrilled too.

Renca: “Kong vs Godzilla!” Wow.

[Clip of a scene from the trailer of the movie showing Kaylee approaching Kong.]

Renca: Your character is Jia, right?

Kaylee: Yes.

Renca: Can you share where it was filmed?

Kaylee: It was filmed in Hawaii, then I went back home, then we flew to Australia for more filming, and after that I went back home.

Renca: In the movie, your role was mostly related to Kong. You didn’t have a role related to Godzilla, right? Just mostly with Kong? I saw these scenes.

Kaylee: Because Kong and my character had a special bond. We signed with each other. Not with Godzilla, it was different. Then later we met.

[Another clip from the trailer of the movie.]

Renca: For Kong’s character, did you have anything there in place of Kong to look at while filming?

Kaylee: There was nothing there.

Renca: Nothing at all?

Kaylee: Yes, it was a green screen. Sometimes there would be a laser light or a mark for me to look at. With Jurassic Park, I saw they used actors to act as dinosaurs and then they edited it, but with this one there was nothing. It was just a green screen with laser lights or these cross shapes. One of the hardest parts was trying to pretend there was a bond there and signing to someone when there was nothing there.

Renca: You did a great job anyway! You had to imagine it. How did you know what Kong’s emotions were?

Kaylee: The script.

Renca: Oh, the script.

Kaylee: If he was mad or destroyed something or talked or whatever, it would say so in the script and I’d try to imagine the story and act it out.

[Clip of trailer: Kaylee's character says,"Please...be careful." to Kong]

Renca: What’s your favorite scene in that movie?

Kaylee: That scene of me drowning in the elevator was my favorite part. But in the movie, it was a short clip of me drowning in the elevator. But the actual shooting of it was long, which was my favorite part. That didn’t appear in the movie, only a short clip of it, but that was my favorite part.

Renca: Now we know that when we see that scene, that’s your favorite part.

Renca: I’m curious, who helped you with the ASL translation for the movie? Did you do it yourself, or did someone help you with the translation?

Kaylee: There was a woman, my mom, and my dad.

Renca: Some family members helped you with that translation. Did you feel it was a tough process to translate the script? Or did you feel it was easy to do?

Kaylee: 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. 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.

[Sponsored Video from Convo: https://www.convorelay.com/download]

Renca: What was your favorite part of your experience as an actor in that movie? Do you have a favorite part that you enjoyed the most when you acted in Hawaii and Australia?

Kaylee: The food. They provided a lot of food, and I love food. But as for the acting, I loved when I could run or swim. I loved these parts. The signing parts were okay, but the action scenes were fun.

Renca: What challenges did you face, other than the obvious challenges? What did you feel was challenging?

Kaylee: 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.

Renca: How do you feel right now?

Kaylee: I feel fine.

Renca: Excited? Are you looking forward to it? Nervous?

Kaylee: I’m looking forward to the movie release.

Renca: You’re looking forward to it.

Kaylee: But I’m nervous about what people’s reactions might be. Will they be happy with it, or will they be mad, or? I’m nervous, but I’m excited for the movie to release.

Renca: Thank you for your time.

Kaylee: Thank you for having me.

Renca: I definitely look forward to this movie. Your role is making a big impact not only on the Deaf community but worldwide. Godzilla versus Kong is a big movie, with your big role, which makes a big impact. I look forward to that. Good luck with your future endeavors, whatever happens for you!

Kaylee: Thank you.

Renca: I’m looking forward to more of your acting opportunities.

Kaylee: Thank you!

Renca: Thank you!

Captioned by aslcaptions.com