Will Smith: “I was so shocked”: Alan Tudyk on being dropped from I, Robot marketing after testing higher than Will Smith

The 2004 Alex Proyas Terminator-like film I, Robot, had Will Smith in the lead, but Alan Tudyk, who played Sonny the robot, truly stole the show, though we don’t get to see him, as his role was entirely motion-captured for the role. People loved him, and that was evident during the marketing, where he was much more popular than the lead during its test screening.

To prevent him from stealing the limelight, he was sidelined, which he explained recently in a conversation during the Toon’d In with Jim Cummings podcast. He said:

"A lot of people did not know I did Sonny the Robot in ‘I, Robot,’ and there is a reason. 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."

The film isn't an adaptation of a novel but borrows the name from Isaac Asimov's short story collection of the same name, which uses his three rules of robotics, which were:

A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.
A robot must obey the orders given to it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.
A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.

Other than Will Smith and Alan Tudyk, Bridget Moynahan, Shia LaBeouf, Bruce Greenwood, and more are in the film too.

What is I, Robot about?

Alan Tudyk played an NS-5 robot, Sonny, in the film. (Image via Davis Entertainment)

The Alex Proyas film revolves around a mystery in a highly advanced future where robots serve humanity. However, there is one robot so advanced that it has developed free will: Alan Tudyk's Sonny.

In the lead is Will Smith as Detective Del Spooner, who has developed a hate against robots after a girl died while one robot was saving him. Due to this incident, he suffers from survivor's guilt and despises them for being unable to think and act like humans.

There is also an artificial intelligence computer called VIKI (Virtual Interactive Kinetic Intelligence), which itself has evolved, as it claims in the film, and decides what's best for humanity. Scary!

As the story progresses, Alan Tudyk's Sonny becomes a prime suspect in an investigation Spooner is on. However, the suspense is really interesting, as Sonny's actions will start making sense by the end of the film.

I, Robot was a commercial success

Alan Tudyk's role came to life using motion capture. (Image via Davis Entertainment)

Despite the criticism for the film's plot, I, Robot turned out just fine at the global box office, as it made $353.1 million against a $120 million budget. For its VFX, it was nominated for the Best Visual Effects at the 77th Academy Awards. Spider-Man 2 (2004) took that home.

There were some talks about the film's sequel, too. Star Trek Generations (1994) and Star Trek: First Contact (1996) writer Ronald Moore said in 2007 that he was working on a sequel.

In addition to that, Alex Proyas says that if he is to make a sequel, that might take the story to outer space.