J. Michael Riva
Born: 1948-06-28 in Manhattan, New York, USA
Died: 2012-06-07
Known For: Art
Biography
John Michael Riva (June 28, 1948–June 7, 2012), better known as J. Michael Riva, was an American production designer. Riva was born in Manhattan to William Riva, a Broadway set designer, and Maria Elisabeth Sieber, a German-born actress and the daughter of Marlene Dietrich. Riva had three brothers (John Peter, John Paul, and John David). Riva attended the prep school Institute Le Rosey in Switzerland for six years before attending UCLA. Married to Wendy Mickell, he had four sons, Jean-Paul, Mikey, Daniel, and Adam. Riva had a long and prestigious career as an art director and production designer on numerous films, including the 1985 film The Colour Purple, for which he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Art Direction. Other credits include The Goonies (1985), Lethal Weapon (1987), A Few Good Men (1992), Spider-Man 3 (2007), Iron Man (2008), and Iron Man 2 (2010). His final films, The Amazing Spider-Man and Django Unchained, were released posthumously. He was the production designer for the opening ceremony of the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, as well as for the 74th and 79th Academy Awards in 2002 and 2007, respectively. He won a Primetime Emmy Award for his work on the latter. Riva suffered a stroke on June 1, 2012, in New Orleans, Louisiana, during production of Django Unchained. He died in a hospital there on June 7, 2012, at age 63. Django director Quentin Tarantino commented, "Michael became a dear friend on this picture, as well as a magnificent, talented colleague." Description above from the Wikipedia article J. Michael Riv, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Filmography
2012
- Django Unchained ... (Production Design)
- The Amazing Spider-Man ... (Production Design)
2010
- Iron Man 2 ... (Production Design)
2008
- Iron Man ... (Production Design)
- Seven Pounds ... (Production Design)
2007
- Spider-Man 3 ... (Production Design)
2006
- The Pursuit of Happyness ... (Production Design)
2005
- Zathura: A Space Adventure ... (Production Design)
- Stealth ... (Production Design)
2003
- Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle ... (Production Design)
- The Making of 'The Color Purple' as Self
2001
- Evolution ... (Production Design)
2000
- Charlie's Angels ... (Production Design)
1999
- Tuesdays with Morrie ... (Production Design)
1998
- Lethal Weapon 4 ... (Production Design)
- Six Days Seven Nights ... (Production Design)
- Hard Rain ... (Production Design)
1995
- Congo ... (Production Design)
1994
- North ... (Production Design)
1993
- Dave ... (Production Design)
1992
- A Few Good Men ... (Production Design)
- Radio Flyer ... (Production Design)
1989
- Tales from the Crypt ... (Director)
- Lethal Weapon 2 ... (Production Design)
- Tango & Cash ... (Production Design)
1988
- Scrooged ... (Production Designer)
1987
- Lethal Weapon ... (Production Design)
1986
- The Golden Child ... (Production Design)
1985
- The Goonies ... (Production Design)
- Amazing Stories ... (Director)
- The Color Purple ... (Production Design)
- The Slugger's Wife ... (Production Design)
1984
- The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension ... (Production Design)
1983
- Bad Boys ... (Production Design)
1981
- The Hand ... (Production Design)
- Halloween II ... (Production Design)
- Callie & Son ... (Production Design)
1980
- Brubaker ... (Art Direction)
- Ordinary People ... (Art Direction)
1979
- Fast Charlie... the Moonbeam Rider ... (Art Direction)
1977
- Bare Knuckles ... (Production Design)
- I Never Promised You a Rose Garden ... (Production Design)
- Bad Georgia Road ... (Art Direction)
1976
- Ilsa: Harem Keeper of the Oil Sheiks ... (Production Design)