We chatted with actor Kaylee Hottle about her role in The New Empire and the co-existence between kaiju and man.
Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire might have its fair share of kaiju tearing apart the planet, but Monarch and other members of the human race have helped make the MonsterVerse what it is so far. With the latest kaiju film hitting big at the box office, we here at ComicBook.com had the opportunity to talk with Kaylle Hottle who portrays the character Jia. During our talk, Hottle expanded on the idea of why the human characters were essential in promoting the story of Kong and Godzilla.
Jia first appeared in Godzilla Vs. Kong, arriving as a member of a tribe living on Skull Island that would routinely pay tribute to Kong. Adopted by Dr. Ilene Andrews, played by Rebecca Hall, for this sequel film, kaiju fans should expect Hottle’s character to play a major role in the film and an instrumental one in terms of aiding both the king of the monsters and the ruler of Skull Island.
Kaiju x Humans: New Empire
Hottle broke down the importance of humanity in the kaiju universe, and how the kaiju and mankind are both searching for ways to co-exist, “The monsters have their own world and we as humans are trying to understand that world, we’re trying to find that path that connects us. So there’s Jia, she’s also a human so she’s able to connect to those people in the human world with her (Hollow Earth) tribe as well.”
In our review of Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire, we noted that while humanity had a presence in the film, they were pulled back a hair compared to previous MonsterVerse entries, “Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire does not entirely get rid of the regular people on the call sheet, but pulls back on them considerably and even cuts down the cast size to maybe a third of the other movies in the franchise. Where Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire makes up ground in that regard is by fully committing to its title kaiju as characters. 2021’s Godzilla vs Kong really offered the great ape more personality, accentuating his features to give him more human-like mannerisms, and he has now fully become a main character in this story. Full sequences of Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire play without dialogue as Kong explores the world and meets kaiju, both friendly and adversarial.”
Do you think we’ll see a third entry in the kaiju crossover series? Feel free to let us know in the comments or hit me up directly @EVComedy to talk all things comics, anime, and the world of the MonsterVerse.
