Trivia for
I, Robot (2004) More at IMDbPro »

• Wil Wheaton and Emilio Estevez auditioned for the part of Sonny the suspect robot.
  
  
• Another "The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy" reference is that the only good day of Spooner was a "Thursday". In the "Guide", this is the day of the week that Arthur Dent "never could get the hang of..."
  
  
• When Spooner opens the door in the beginning, the robot on his doorstep has the number 42 on his head. Many SF movies contain the number 42, a reference to the ultimate answer to life, the universe and everything according to Douglas Adams' "The Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy".
  
  
• In the display window of an antique robot store is Sony's AIBO robotic dog.
  
  
• The movie originally started as a screenplay entitled "Hardwired", a classical-style murder mystery that read like a stage play, and was very much in the spirit of Asimov's "three laws" mysteries. When the original "Hardwired" script eventually reached Fox, after being developed at Disney with director Bryan Singer, new director Alex Proyas and writer Jeff Vintar opened up the story to fit a big-budget studio film. When Fox acquired the rights to Isaac Asimov's story collection, Vintar spent two years adapting Hardwired to serve as a tenth story in the Asimov canon, complete with Susan Calvin and the Three Laws of Robotics. Hillary Seitz worked at one point as script doctor. Writer Akiva Goldsman came on late in the process to tailor the script to Will Smith.
  
  
• Although "Hardwired" never got as far as filming, Geoff Zanelli wrote a main theme for the project.
  
  
• The car used by Will Smith's character is a concept car called Audi RSQ, which was designed exclusively for the film and includes special features suggested by director Alex Proyas.
  
  
• For the character of Sonny the accused robot, the effects team used the same process that was used to create Gollum in The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002), with Alan Tudyk providing the body movements and voice for Sonny.
  
  
• The motorcycle that Will Smith's character rides in the movie is a 2004 MV Agusta F4-SPR. It is one of only 300 produced worldwide. Its 750cc, inline 4-cylinder engine produces 147 horsepower and can propel the bike in excess of 175 mph.
  
  
• Dr. Lanning's cat is named Asimov.
  
  
• In the theatrical trailer, Del Spooner (Will Smith) tells Lt. John Bergin (Chi McBride) that "I'm gonna miss the good old days", with Bergin responding, "What Good Old Days?" Spooner then says, "When people were killed by other people." In the film, it was Lt. Bergin who says, "I'm gonna miss the good old days," first instead of Spooner.
  
  
• Most of the cars in the movie are modified pre-2004 Audi A2, A6 and TT models. There are even some unmodified cars.
  
  
• When Detective Spooner walks up to the garage containing the motorcycle, the code he enters on the door pad is 911.
  
  
• No re-shoots were required, a rarity for a movie as big as this.
  
  
• The verse prayed by Spooner's grandmother at the end of the movie, "because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved," is from Psalms 16:8.
  
  
• Lt. Bergin's quote: "No, seriously. Guy creates monster. Monster kills guy. Everyone kills monster. Wolfman." is very similar to the interplay in Jurassic Park (1993): Dr. Ian Malcolm: "God creates dinosaurs. God destroys dinosaurs. God creates man. Man destroys God. Man creates dinosaurs." Dr. Ellie Sattler: "Dinosaurs...eat man. Woman inherits the earth."
  
  
• During an interview on "American Chopper: The Series" (2003), Will Smith told how he wrecked the motorcycle at around 60 mph during the filming of the scene at the robot storage facility (you can see him begin to lose control in the film).
  
  
• Will Smith hired Orange County Choppers of TLC's "American Chopper: The Series" (2003) to build an I, Robot themed chopper that was unveiled at the premiere of the movie.
  
  
• According to the newscast, Dr. Alfred Lanning was born in 1971 and was 64 when he was murdered. Interesting enough, he was the same age at the time as the actor who played him, James Cromwell.
  
  
• WILHELM SCREAM: A random police officer when the NS-5's attack the police station.
  
  
• When Sonny is drawing the picture of the bridge for Spooner, there is a piece of paper to the left with computer code on it. The code is that of a Renderman shader; a procedural description of a surface used to describe the robots' appearance during rendering.
  
  
• Based on the movie, in the year 2035, a bottle of beer will cost you $23.25. This could be seen clearly when Del flashed his credit card and the text "Two Beers, $46.50" could be seen clearly on the screen.
  
  

• SPOILER: The name of the other driver involved in the accident that cost Spooner his arm is Harold Lloyd, named after the silent film star. Harold Lloyd lost several of his fingers after an accident with a prop bomb.
  
  
• SPOILER: The idea of a robot hiding in a large group of identical robots was the basis of the Asimov story "Little Lost Robot", which appeared in the original book.
  
  
• SPOILER: The fact that Sonny has dreams in which slave robots are liberated is a reference to a short story from Asimov called "Robot Dreams", that does not appear in "I, Robot" but in the later published "Robot Dreams". This book contains, among others, also the stories from "I, Robot".
  
  
• SPOILER: Denzel Washington was offered the role of Spooner. Had he accepted, this would have been the second time he played a previously-married police officer with a bionic left arm who chases down a killer robot, the first being Parker Barnes in Virtuosity (1995).
  
  
• SPOILER: There are a few references in the movie to the anime Armitage III (1994) (V). The lead characters both have cybernetic limbs. Both leads loose limbs in accidents that also involve a robot being present. Both characters start out hating robots and as they learn more about them begin to soften to the idea that Robots are beings worthy of saving.
  
  

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