R2-D2, With Feeling

By Rebecca Winters

Sometimes a robotic performance is a good thing. Like when you're one of the droids playing opposite WILL SMITH in this summer's I, Robot, a futuristic thriller based on Isaac Asimov's stories. Unlike his "recluse technophobe" character, Smith is an avowed technophile. "I need the latest updates, state-of-the-art everything," he says. In the film, his detective, Del Spooner, has reason to be wary--he's pursuing a robot suspected in a homicide. Some of the robots are portrayed by actors whose expressions are then digitally replicated on the faces of computer-created characters, as was done with Gollum in the Lord of the Rings trilogy. "There's a real natural human element that I think people are going to be very pleasantly surprised by," says Smith. Maybe it's time for a new Oscar category--Best Supporting Automaton.