If you happen to consider 2004’s I, Robotic, Will Smith is probably going the primary one that involves thoughts, and rightly so. It was undoubtedly one of many greater options the actor starred in through the 2000s, and a few would possibly even name it the most effective Will Smith films. However I, Robotic was additionally a giant deal for Firefly’s Alan Tudyk, as he voiced and carried out the pleasant robotic Sonny by movement seize. And but, it was apparently due to his wonderful efficiency as a robotic that Tudyk barely obtained any consideration when I, Robotic was making the press rounds.
Tudyk divulged this info whereas talking with the title host of the Toon’d In with Jim Cummings podcast. Though he’s identified for quite a lot of films and TV reveals, together with, however not restricted to, Frozen, Zootopia, Rogue One, Resident Alien, Creature Commandos and the 2025 film launch Superman, Tudyk advised Cummings that he nonetheless runs into individuals who aren’t conscious he was in I, Robotic. That’s not just because we don’t see his face through the film, with the actor sharing:
Lots of people didn’t know I did Sonny the Robotic in I, Robotic, and there’s a cause. They had been doing check audiences for the film, and so they rating the characters in this type of check screening. I obtained phrase again: ‘Alan, you might be testing greater than Will Smith.’ After which I used to be gone. I used to be completed. There was no publicity, and my identify was not talked about.
That’s significantly wild. Alan Tudyk did his greatest job taking part in Sonny, the NS-5 robotic created by James Cromwell’s Dr. Alfred Lanning who was able to feeling feelings and a key part within the thriller of Lanning’s demise that Will Smith’s Detective Del Spooner was introduced in to resolve. And but, when the time got here to advertise I, Robotic, Tudyk was advised that the very fact he was testing greater than Smith throughout these early screenings was sufficient to push him out of the press tour and never have his identify introduced up.
It’s unclear if twentieth Century Fox was behind this resolution or if it originated from Will Smith or somebody on his crew, however both approach, Alan Tudyk was understandably disenchanted to be advised this. He continued:
I used to be so shocked. I used to be like, ‘Wait, no person goes to know I’m in it!’ I put so much into [that performance]. I needed to transfer like a robotic. On the time, I used to be very upset.
Movement seize performing was nonetheless in its relative infancy when Alan Tudyk was taking part in Sonny in I, Robotic, with different notable examples from round that point together with Jar Jar Binks within the Star Wars prequel trilogy and Gollum within the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Mentioning Alan Tudyk, if not having him take part within the press tour, would have helped get this type of distinctive acting on extra individuals’s radars. To not point out, Tudyk was an integral a part of the forged similar to Will Smith, James Cromwell, Bridget Moynahan and Bruce Greenwood, amongst others.
Clearly Alan Tudyk isn’t hurting for work today, however the man deserves the popularity for all that effort he poured into bringing Sonny to life in I, Robotic. One of the best we are able to do over twenty years after its launch is be sure those that are streaming I, Robotic with a Hulu subscription or watching it another approach for the primary time are conscious of his contributions.