Alan Tudyk is looking back on a surprising chapter of his career, one that left him both proud and frustrated.
Speaking on the podcast Toon’d In with Jimmy Cummings, the actor revealed why many people don’t realize he was the one behind Sonny, the robot in the 2004 sci-fi action film I, Robot.
Tudyk shared that during early test screenings, audiences scored his character higher than the film’s lead, Will Smith.
“They were doing test audiences with the movie and they score the characters and I got word back, ‘Alan, you’re testing higher than Will Smith,’” he recalled.
“And then I was gone. I was gone. There was no publicity and my name was not mentioned.”
He admitted the decision left him shocked and disappointed, especially after the work he put into the role.
“I was so shocked, I was like, ‘But wait, nobody’s going to know that I [play the robot],’” Tudyk said, adding that he had done both the voice work and motion capture for Sonny.
“At the time, I was very upset,” he shared.
Directed by Alex Proyas, I, Robot is set in Chicago in 2035, where robots serve as part of daily life.
The story follows Detective Del Spooner, played by Will Smith, as he investigates the mysterious death of the U.S. Robotics founder, believing Sonny may have been involved.
The film featured a cast including Bridget Moynahan, Bruce Greenwood, James Cromwell, Chi McBride, Shia LaBeouf, Fiona Hogan, Terry Chen, Adrian L. Ricard, Jerry Wasserman, Peter Shinkoda, Emily Tennant, and David Haysom.
It went on to earn an Oscar nomination for Best Visual Effects but ultimately lost to Spider-Man 2.
For Tudyk, the experience remains a mix of achievement and missed recognition, a performance that wowed audiences but stayed largely behind the scenes.
