[VIDEO] Revisiting Ava DuVernay’s “The Door” with Music Supervisor Morgan Rhodes

Recently Musiqology spoke with Selma music supervisor, Morgan Rhodes (@MorganRhodes). Selma was her fourth project with director, Ava DuVernay. In this piece she speaks with Musiqology Managing Editor, Fredara M. Hadley. This time, Morgan talks with us about  her work on one of our favorites, “The Door” – a short film directed by Ava DuVernay and starring Gabrielle Union, Adepero Oduye, Goapele, Alfre Woodard, and Emayatzy Corinealdi. Emayatzy was the lead in Ava DuVernay’s critically-acclaimed first feature film, Middle of Nowhere, for which Morgan Rhodes also served as music supervisor.

FMH: Talk to me about how you approached sourcing the music for one of my favorite shorts, “The Door.” And I was elated to hear the work of my friend, Applejac (@DJAppleJac), in the film.

I was familiar with Dezaray Dawn before I met Applejac. I’m a huge fan of Bugz in the Attic and [the genre of] broken beat. I’m just a junkie. I’m a house music junkie. So house music really had to be a part of it. And I liked what the words were saying, “Who will I be today? I’m a chameleon.” It helps with the narrative because sometimes in break ups and in life we’re forced to put on this face, “We wear the mask, right?” So we’re forced to put on a brave face for the world as if to say, “Oh no, it’s all good.”

What was brilliant about “The Door” is, not only does it show the sisterhood of Black women, which is the antithesis of what we see on television, [but also] we see sisters helping each other out. You have the one person who is just going to sit with you and cry; next you have the one person who is like “girl we need to go out.” Then, you have another one who is singing to you and witnessing to your spirit. You have every facet of that, and that’s what Ava showed.

So it was being able to having fun doing this project with some artists that I knew. And pretty much everything in “The Door” I’d played on the air or I was thinking about playing on the air.

And, let’s be real, of course you’re going to get over someone if you can get over them in Prada!

In closing, we love this piece of advice Morgan shared with us from one of her favorite music supervisors. Thomas Golubić, was the music supervisor for such popular shows as: Six Feet Under, The Walking Dead, and Breaking Bad.

She recounts Thomas’ advice: He told me to “Make elegant choices.” Let elegance lead the way. You don’t want to take over that thing. You don’t want to throw a bunch on accessories on top of a great outfit.”