During an appearance on the “Toon’d In with Jim Cummings” podcast, Alan Tudyk spoke about how he was dropped from the marketing of 2004’s “I, Robot” after test screenings revealed that his role as Sonny scored higher with audiences than leading man Will Smith.
Tudyk appeared in the film as the robot Sonny via motion capture and voice acting. Axing him from the movie’s publicity meant there were (and still are) people who have no idea he starred in the movie, the actor said.
“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.”
“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.”
Watch the interview in full here. Stream Tudyk as K-2SO in Andor on Disney+ now.
