In Monsters University, Mike and Sulley struggle with being misfits as they start their college careers. To create that feeling in their characters, actors John Goodman and Billy Crystal drew from their own experiences.

“I have to admit, I was a little bit of a misfit,” admitted Crystal who went to NYU and majored in directing when he spoke to Hypable at a press event last month. “I’m still not sure why I became a directing major when I was really an actor and a comedian, but there was something that drew me to doing that. I had made a few films on my own, and I loved it. So I felt like I was a misfit, in a way, and out of it because all those other people – it was Oliver Stone, Christopher Guest, Mike McKean. It was a class of film people. Our professor was Marty Scorsese. So he – Marty was a graduate student – Mr. Scorsese, which is what I had to call him – which I still do, when I see him, ‘cause he gave me a C.”

Goodman had his own misfit experiences while at Missouri State University. “I was a drifter for a while. I just was desperate to fit in with a group. Really, I was swimming. I was lost, treading water, trying to find my way. I wanted to play football. It didn’t work out. I didn’t really know what I wanted until I found acting in a theater department, and then it just – everything fell into place, and I had a passion about something. Then, I started living my life.”

Crystal had a similar experience in how he discovered his love for acting. “Once I found a theater group, then you’re just – like a gym rat, but you’re a theater rat, and then that becomes your fraternity house. That becomes your family – extended family. I still see a lot of those people to this day because they owe me money. No, that really becomes your thing.”

Mike and Sulley follow a similar path in Monsters University when they discover themselves. “In this movie, they find out who they are,” explained Crystal. “That’s the most important element of this movie to me is well, Mike has a dream, and the dream may not work out, and then he has to readjust and recalibrate. He does that with the help of his friend, who tells him who he thinks he is, and he starts to believe it himself.”

Monsters University opens June 21.