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 a featured player on
Saturday Night Live from 1985-1986, Dafoe was already famous from Platoon and
The Last Temptation of Christ and Chechik had just directed ''
National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation''. Filming started in April 1990. However, after a week, the producers felt that the lines they had thought funny were not getting the laughs they hoped for. Shortly after arriving for shooting in Miami, Dafoe quit due to script changes which required him to perform slapstick comedy which did not suit him. Six days later, the decision was taken to cancel production as no satisfactory replacement could be found for Dafoe Various attempts have been made to film the script again without any success. The orca
Lolita was to appear in the film but production was halted while filming at the
Miami Seaquarium. ==References==