Alan Tudyk Says His Name ‘Was Not Mentioned’ in I, Robot Publicity Because His Performance as Sonny the Robot Scored Higher With Test Audiences Than Will Smith

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Alan Tudyk has made an explosive allegation surrounding his involvement with I, Robot, claiming his name was pulled from the film’s publicity because his performance as Sonny the Robot scored higher with test audiences than Will Smith.

Alex Proyas’ 2004 sci-fi film I, Robot sees Smith’s Detective Del Spooner investigate the alleged suicide of U.S. Robotics founder Alfred Lanning, believing a human-like robot called Sonny (Tudyk) murdered him. Tudyk voiced Sonny and provided the motion capture for the CGI character.

Speaking on the Toon’d In with Jim Cummings podcast, Tudyk claimed he was dropped from I, Robot publicity due to Sonny scoring higher with test audiences than Smith’s Spooner, which left him “very upset” because people didn’t realize he starred in the movie.

“A lot of people didn’t know I did Sonny the Robot in I, Robot, and there’s a reason for that,” Tudyk said. “Because they were doing test audiences with the movie, and they score the characters in this kind of test audience. And I’d got word back: ‘Alan, you’re testing higher than Will Smith.’ And then I was gone. I was done. There was no publicity, and my name was not mentioned.”

He continued: “I was so shocked. I was like, ‘Wait, nobody is going to know that I’m in it!’ I put a lot into it, because he had to move like a robot, so I had to move… it was, whatever it was. At the time, I was very upset.”

Despite Tudyk’s negative experience with I, Robot, he went on to play another robot, K-2SO, in Star Wars movie Rogue One, and later reprised the role in Disney+ series Andor. Indeed, Tudyk has a long association with sci-fi franchises, playing Hoban “Wash” Washburne in Firefly / Serenity and, most recently, Superman Robot 4 / Gary in James Gunn’s DCU kickstarter Superman.

Photo by Koichi Kamoshida/Getty Images.

Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.