Alan Tudyk, I, Robot Actor: “I Was Cut Out of the Film’s Marketing”
According to the CinemaDrame news agency, Alan Tudyk claims in an interview with the Jim Cummings podcast that in 2004, after scoring higher with audiences than Will Smith in test screenings for I, Robot, he was removed from the film’s marketing. Smith, an Oscar-winning actor, played Detective Del Spooner, while Tudyk performed the voice and motion-capture for a humanoid robot named Sonny.
Tudyk says he is still upset about the decision: “A lot of people didn’t know I played ‘Sonny the robot’ in I, Robot, and there was a reason for that. They did a test screening for the movie, and audiences rated the characters. They told me, ‘Alan, you scored higher than Will Smith.’ And then I was gone. That was it. No promotion, no mention of my name.”
He continues: “I was shocked. I thought, ‘No one’s going to realize I was in this movie! I worked so hard. I had to make my body movements look like a robot.’ At the time, I was really upset.”
In I, Robot, directed by Alex Proyas, Smith plays a detective in 2035 Chicago assigned to investigate the alleged suicide of the founder of a robotics company. The cast also includes Bridget Moynahan, Bruce Greenwood, James Cromwell, and Chi McBride.
At the time I, Robot was filmed, motion-capture technology had only been used in movies like The Lord of the Rings and the Star Wars prequels. Tudyk later portrayed K-2SO in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story and reprised the role for the series Andor.
