Alan Tudyk Says He Got Dropped From ‘I, Robot' Publicity After Testing Higher Than Will Smith With Test Screening Audiences: ‘I Was Very Upset'
'A lot of people did not know I did Sonny the Robot in 'I, Robot,' and there is a reason,' Tudyk said. 'They were doing test audiences for the movie and they score the characters in this kind of test screening. I got word back: 'Alan, you are testing higher than Will Smith.' And then I was gone. I was done. There was no publicity and my name was not mentioned.'
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'I was so shocked,' he continued. 'I was like, 'Wait, nobody is going to know I'm in it!' I put a lot into [that performance]. I had to move like a robot. At the time I was very upset.'
Variety has reached out to Smith's representative for comment.
'I, Robot,' directed by Alex Proyas, stars Smith as a Chicago police detective in 2035 investigating the alleged suicide of the founder of a robotics company. The corporation's highly-intelligent robots are utilized for public service jobs, but Smith's detective is convinced one of these robots, Tudyk's Sonny, murdered the founder. The supporting cast includes Bridget Moynahan, Bruce Greenwood, James Cromwell and Chi McBride.
Outside of Jar Jar Binks in the 'Star Wars' prequels and Gollum in 'The Lord of the Rings' movies, motion capture technology and performances were still relatively new in Hollywood when Tudyk played Sonny in 'I, Robot.' He would go on to use the technology again years later when he played the droid K-2SO in the 'Star Wars' movie 'Rogue One,' a role he reprised in the Disney+ prequel series 'Andor.'
Watch Tudyk's full interview on the 'Toon'd In with Jim Cummings' podcast in the video below.
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