Alan Tudyk says I, Robot in 2004 has unexpected drawbacks. It was he on the sidelines from the promotion of the film.
Come on the podcast! Along with Jim Cummings, Tudyk reflected on playing Sonny, the CGI robot at the heart of Alex Proyas’ 2004 sci-fi action film. Despite providing a character’s voice and performance capture, Tudyk says he was removed from the press push after audience tests showed that audience tests resonated more strongly than film star Will Smith.
“They were doing test audiences in the film, they got the characters and I got back the words, ‘Alan, you’re testing higher than Will Smith,'” Tudyk recalls. “Then I was gone. I was gone. There was no publicity and my name was not mentioned.”
He caught the move off guard and added, “I was very shocked, I said, ‘Wait, no one would know I’m going to (play a robot).’
Set in 2035, I, the robot, is set in Chicago, where the robots are integrated into everyday life. Smith plays Del Spooner. Del Spooner is a detective considering the suspicious death of the founder of American robotics. The cast includes Bridget Moynahan, Bruce Greenwood, James Cromwell, Chi McBride and Shea LaBeouf. I, the robot, is a commercially successful, making $353 million worldwide from a $120 million budget. The film was also nominated for an Academy Award for Best Visual Effects, and was eventually defeated by Spider-Man 2.
Despite Tudyk’s disappointment at the time, his work as Sonny remains one of his most famous motion capture performances, joining the notable roster of voices and physical roles, including Rogue One’s K-2SO.
