Before Angelina Jolie, “Ocean’s Eleven” and even “Thelma & Louise” were a part of Brad Pitt’s life, there was an OU professor.

Sitting in his third floor office in Old Science Hall, surrounded by classic movie posters and pictures of Hollywood elites, is film and video studies professor Andrew Horton. His career didn’t lead him to the motion picture capitol of the world, but to lesser-known sights for his projects.

“I’ve never been a part of Hollywood,” he said. “I’ve mainly been under contract to do films in Greece, New Zealand and Norway.”

Horton is a screenwriter and author of 21 books on travel and film and video studies.

The path to Pitt

Horton’s path to writing films began during the Vietnam war.

“I was opposed to the Vietnam war, and a friend said that I should go over to Greece and teach English,” he said. “The army let me go over and teach English, saying, ‘By teaching them English, I was stopping them from becoming communists.’”

He said while he was in Greece, he gained a passion for writing, and began writing screenplays. After a few successful films, he caught the attention of Yugoslav film producer Angelo Aranjelovic for the screenplay he co-wrote, “Dark Side of the Sun.”

While casting the film with Marion Doughtery, who worked on movies like “The Sting” and “Batman,” Horton was asked to make a choice on who would play the lead.

“She gave me the choice of two new actors that have had some small parts on television,” Horton said. “I had to choose between River Phoenix and Brad Pitt. I thought it was a joke at first because the names sound so funny.”

Horton and his colleagues picked Pitt.

The film was released in Yugoslavia in 1989, but before it could be released in other countries, the master print was lost in the Bosnian War and the film’s debut was delayed for eight years.

In 1997, the film was released on home video, but not in movie theaters.

Horton says starring in “Dark Side of the Sun” impacted Pitt in more ways than just his acting career.

“It’s because of starting off in an international film is why he is involved in international efforts,” he said. “He’s actually seen what other countries are like early on in his career and it’s had an impact on him.”

Horton said many people ask him for advice for succeeding in Hollywood.

“Be a plumber,” he said. “Everyone needs their pipes fixed, even famous people, and that’s how you make your connections.”

Time for teaching

In 1990, Horton taught English at Loyola University in New Orleans, and came to OU in 1999 as the first film and video studies professor.

“I came to OU a year late,” he said.

He and his family travelled around the world for a year, which he writes about in his book “Life Without A ZIP Code.”

Every summer he goes to Greece, where his career started, and takes a group of students to study film and mythology.

But Horton is not just a frequent visitor to Greece.

“My former students bought my wife and I a house on a small Greek island in the Aegean Sea,” he said.

Horton said he also would like to start a summer film institute in Greece for film students.