Rick Carter


Rick Carter is an American production designer and art director. He is known for his work in the film Forrest Gump, which earned him an Oscar nomination, as well as numerous nominations of other awards for his work in Amistad and A.I. Artificial Intelligence. Notable films include, Jurassic Park, Avatar, and Back to the Future Part II and Part III. Other films include Cast Away, War of the Worlds, What Lies Beneath. Many of the films that he has worked on are directed by Steven Spielberg or Robert Zemeckis. For his part in the Art Direction of Avatar, he was awarded the Academy Award for Best Production Design alongside Robert Stromberg and Kim Sinclair. In 2013, Carter won his second Academy Award, for production design on Steven Spielberg's biopic, Lincoln.

Early life and education

Rick is the son of publicist, and later, motion picture producer, Dick Carter. His mother, Ruth, was a one-time Life magazine staffer, and later Realtor in Southern California.
Carter's student days at UCSC were spent painting. Participating in a film panel at last June's "Bridging the Gap" Arts Division event, the former Art major joined Arts Dean David Yager in revisiting his alma mater and reliving the unique experience of his UCSC days.

Career

Beginnings
A conscientious objector to the Vietnam War, he dropped out of the University of California at Berkeley and eventually entered the art department for the first time as an assistant on Hal Ashby’s Bound for Glory followed by James Bridges’ The China Syndrome.
Film
His first credit as art director was with Ashby again on Second-Hand Hearts, but art-directing The Goonies in 1985 was a pivotal job for the designer, as it led to another key meeting for Carter: with that film’s writer and producer Steven Spielberg. The two hit it off and began a close working relationship that endures to the present day.

Filmography

Accolades

CeremonyCategoryYearFilmResult
Academy AwardsBest Production Design1994Forrest Gump
Academy AwardsBest Production Design2009Avatar
Academy AwardsBest Production Design2011War Horse
Academy AwardsBest Production Design2012Lincoln
British Academy Film AwardsBest Production Design2010Avatar
British Academy Film AwardsBest Production Design2012War Horse
British Academy Film AwardsBest Production Design2013Lincoln
British Academy Film AwardsBest Production Design2016