4 days ago
I, Robot star hints at drama on Will Smith film after claiming his cyborg role 'tested higher' with audiences
A former costar of actor Will Smith insinuated that the actor used his clout to minimize his presence in a film more than two decades back - impacting his career in the process.
Alan Tudyk, 54, portrayed the role of Sonny in the 2004 film iRobot, in which Smith, 56, starred as Del Spooner.
Tudyk said that he was unceremoniously dumped from promotional materials when his character began testing higher than Smith's with trial audiences.
Tudyk, appearing on Toon'd In with Jimmy Cummings, explained the course of events that led to him being minimized in the promotional rollout of the motion picture.
'They were doing test audiences with the movie,' Tudyk said on the June 15 edition of the podcast, which has begun to go viral.
Tudyk continued: 'They score the characters and I got word back, "Alan, you're testing higher than Will Smith."'
'And then I was gone - I was gone,' Tudyk said. 'There was no publicity and my name was not mentioned.'
Tudyk said he was 'so shocked' and concerned moviegoers weren't 'going to know' he played a key role in the motion picture.
This is not Smith's first time publicly clashing with a costar: In 1993 he had a well-publicized feud with his Fresh Prince of Bel-Air castmate Janet Hubert, which ultimately resulted from her dismissal from the show.
Hubert did reunite with Smith and the cast during a 2020 reunion that aired on HBO Max.
Smith in the special admitted that he 'wasn't sensitive' and 'wasn't perceptive' to struggles Hubert was dealing with, as she was pregnant at the time of their row.
'Now that I've had three kids I've learned some things that I did not know at the time,' he said, 'and I would do things very differently - but I can see where I made the set very difficult for Janet.'
The Academy Award-winning King Richard star continues to try and rebuild his reputation more than three years after he slapped Chris Rock at the 2022 Oscars.
Smith's infamous slap of Chris Rock came on March 27, 2022, after the comedian made a joke about Smith's wife, Jada Pinkett Smith.
The joke was about her shaved head, saying, 'Jada, I love you, G.I. Jane 2, can't wait to see it!' in a reference to the 1997 movie which featured Demi Moore with a shaved head. (Pinkett Smith has diagnosed with alopecia, which causes hair loss.)
Smith then walked onstage and smacked Rock, then returned to his seat and shouted at him twice, 'Keep my wife's name out of your f***ing mouth!' to a stunned audience.
Later in the evening - in his acceptance speech after winning the Best Actor Oscar for his role as tennis patriarch Richard Williams in King Richard - Smith apologized to the Academy and other nominees, but made no reference to Rock.
Smith subsequently apologized on multiple occasions over the incident, and resigned from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences ahead of being issued a 10-year ban from the Oscars.
In an apology he issued in July of 2022 over the incident in an online clip, Smith said his spouse 'had nothing to do with' his attack on Rock.
'I made a choice on my own from my own experiences, from my history with Chris,' he said. 'I want to say sorry to my kids and my family for the heat that I've brought on all of us.'
He added: 'I've reached out to Chris and the message that came back is that he's not ready to talk, and when he is he will reach out. So I will say to you, Chris, I apologize to you. My behavior was unacceptable, and I'm here whenever you're ready to talk.'
