One of the most anticipated films of the fall is Viola Davis’ “The Woman King,” opening Friday. And a significant contribution to the soundtrack was recorded right here in Denver at Rocky Mountain Recorders.

Five-time Grammy Award winner and Denver native Dianne Reeves contributed improvisational vocals to the film, under the music direction of Terence Blanchard.

“When my dear friend Terence was working on the project, he said he ‘heard’ me in the music, and he invited me to be a part of it,” Reeves said.

The director of the film, Gina Prince-Bythewood, didn’t know Reeves’ music that well at the time, but she knew Blanchard has good instincts.

“So I got a call to come to Scotland, where they were recording the soundtrack,” Reeves said. “We started working on it, and when Gina heard some of it, she said, ‘Yeah, we’ve gotta do more of this,’ so we ended up picking up where we left off right here in Denver.”

Reeves went to see her friend Chris McNaughton, the one-man owner and operator of Rocky Mountain Recorders, a full-service studio at 1250 W. Cedar Ave.

Blanchard arranged for Reeves to watch scenes from the film at McNaughton’s  studio and vocally improvise throughout. “That’s something I have never done,” said Reeves.

The recording session was truly an international affair. “We had people hooked in from Hollywood, New York and Glasgow all at the same time,” McNaughton said of the 10,000-mile spread.

“They really focused on five or six scenes in the film,” McNaughton said. “We would play the scenes on our studio monitor and Dianne would essentially just do her scat vocal improvisations as she watched.” Reeves received real-time direction and feedback from Blanchard and Prince-Bythewood, who were in Scotland working simultaneously with the orchestra.

“Honestly: Every time she did it, she made the score about 10 times better,” McNaughton said. “Everybody on the line was just raving about it.”

At one point, the director Prince-Bythewood asked Reeves, “How do you do it?” and she responded by saying she simply feels the moment and goes with it. McNaughton has his own theory. “She is just that good. That’s why she’s won five Grammys.”

Even after all that, no one knew how much of Reeves’ voice would end up in the final film. McNaughton was invited to an early screening on Thursday night, and now he knows.

“Dianne is present throughout the entire film,” he said. “I teared up every time her voice hit my ears. It was something special.”

Reeves, who will see the film for the first time on Friday night, called the whole thing “a simply amazing, extraordinary experience.”

In the historical epic “The Woman King,” Davis plays a 19th-century African general who led an all-woman army against European slave traders. Historians say they were called the Agojie (or “mothers”) and existed from about 1600-1904. They were referred to as “the Dahomey Amazons” by Western Europeans who wrote about them – a nod to fierce female warriors from Greek mythology.

The film is just one reason Reeves is enjoying another career high. Her 1994 song “Endangered Species” was thrust back into international prominence Monday when actor Sheryl Lee Ralph sang it as her acceptance speech at Monday’s Emmy Awards. And she will soon embark on her latest international tour.

McNaughton has contributed to film scores before, but the bulk of his work is presently in audio replacement – that’s when TV and film actors are sent into recording studios after already filming their scenes because the audio wasn’t picked up quite right.

Among McNaughton’s regular clients are Denver native Pam Grier of the sitcom “Bless This Mess” and Jeffrey Donovan, a star of the NBC revival of “Law & Order.” He also worked with NFL great Peyton Manning for his appearance in the Disney film “Ferdinand.”

The reason all of this post-production work is being done in Denver rather than Hollywood, McNaughton said, is because for the most part, this is where those performers live. Reeves has never left Denver. Grier, star of the film “Foxy Brown,” now lives nearby in Santa Fe, and Donovan recently moved his family to Cherry Hills.

“Because of the pandemic, and even prior to that, a lot of talent has either moved back to Colorado or moved to Colorado for the first time,” McNaughton said. “They don’t necessarily need or want to be in L.A. or New York anymore, and often, they can do what they need to do right here.”