Schöne Bescherung
The script was written by Mitch Glazer and Michael O'Donoghue who had written "Scrooged" (1988) for producer Art Linson. Linson had tried to get "Arrive Alive" made for a number of years, with a variety of stars attached, before finally securing funding with Chechik, Dafoe and Cusack. Cusack was an up-and-coming actress, working on "Saturday Night Live", Dafoe was getting terrific buzz from "The Last Temptation of Christ" and Chechik had just directed the successful "National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation".