J. Michael Riva

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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

Movies and shows, newest first

2012
Django Unchained
Movie Production Design
2012
The Amazing Spider-Man
Movie Production Design
2010
Iron Man 2
Movie Production Design
2008
Seven Pounds
Movie Production Design
2008
Iron Man
Movie Production Design
2007
Spider-Man 3
Movie Production Design
2006
The Pursuit of Happyness
Movie Production Design
2005
Zathura: A Space Adventure
Movie Production Design
2005
Stealth
Movie Production Design
2003
Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle
Movie Production Design
2003
The Making of 'The Color Purple'
Movie Self
2001
Evolution
Movie Production Design
2001
Charlie’s Angels: Getting G’d Up
Movie Self
2001
Charlie’s Angels: Welcome to Angel World
Movie Self
2000
Charlie's Angels
Movie Production Design
1999
Tuesdays with Morrie
Movie Production Design

More credits

1998
Lethal Weapon 4
Movie Production Design
1998
Six Days Seven Nights
Movie Production Design
1998
Hard Rain
Movie Production Design
1995
Congo
Movie Production Design
1994
North
Movie Production Design
1993
Dave
Movie Production Design
1992
A Few Good Men
Movie Production Design
1992
Radio Flyer
Movie Production Design
1989
Tango & Cash
Movie Production Design
1989
Lethal Weapon 2
Movie Production Design
1989
Tales from the Crypt
TV show Director
1988
Scrooged
Movie Production Designer
1987
Lethal Weapon
Movie Production Design
1986
The Golden Child
Movie Production Design
1985
The Color Purple
Movie Production Design
1985
Amazing Stories
TV show Director
1985
The Goonies
Movie Production Design
1985
The Slugger's Wife
Movie Production Design
1984
The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension
Movie Production Design
1983
Bad Boys
Movie Production Design
1981
Halloween II
Movie Production Design
1981
The Hand
Movie Production Design
1981
Callie & Son
Movie Production Design
1980
Ordinary People
Movie Art Direction