J. Michael Riva
- Known for
- Art
- Born
- June 28, 1948
- Died
- June 7, 2012
- Birthplace
- Manhattan, New York, USA
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
Django Unchained 2012
Production Design
The Amazing Spider-Man 2012
Production Design
Iron Man 2 2010
Production Design
Seven Pounds 2008
Production Design
Iron Man 2008
Production Design
Spider-Man 3 2007
Production Design
The Pursuit of Happyness 2006
Production Design
Zathura: A Space Adventure 2005
Production Design
Stealth 2005
Production Design
Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle 2003
Production Design
The Making of 'The Color Purple' 2003
as Self
Evolution 2001
Production Design
Charlie’s Angels: Welcome to Angel World 2001
as Self
Charlie’s Angels: Getting G’d Up 2001
as Self
Charlie's Angels 2000
Production Design
Tuesdays with Morrie 1999
Production Design
Lethal Weapon 4 1998
Production Design
Six Days Seven Nights 1998
Production Design
Hard Rain 1998
Production Design
Congo 1995
Production Design
North 1994
Production Design
Dave 1993
Production Design
A Few Good Men 1992
Production Design
Radio Flyer 1992
Production Design
Tango & Cash 1989
Production Design
Lethal Weapon 2 1989
Production Design
Scrooged 1988
Production Designer, Production Design
Lethal Weapon 1987
Production Design
The Golden Child 1986
Production Design
The Color Purple 1985
Production Design
The Goonies 1985
Production Design
The Slugger's Wife 1985
Production Design
The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension 1984
Production Design
Bad Boys 1983
Production Design
Halloween II 1981
Production Design
The Hand 1981
Production Design
Callie & Son 1981
Production Design
Ordinary People 1980
Art Direction
Brubaker 1980
Art Direction
Fast Charlie... the Moonbeam Rider 1979
Art Direction
Bare Knuckles 1977
Production Design
I Never Promised You a Rose Garden 1977
Production Design
Bad Georgia Road 1977
Art Direction
Ilsa: Harem Keeper of the Oil Sheiks 1976
Production Design
Credits from TMDB.