The film was named after Demetri Martin's father, Dean, who died at 46 from kidney cancer. But the film is also inspired by Demetri's experience with his mother, who developed Alzheimer's. "Sadly, kind of poetically, it's kind of about both my parents. It's something I'm still dealing with and working through and I have two kids now. When you have kids, it opens up all those wounds in a way that's unexpectedly present. The movie has been something therapeutic."
Kevin Kline and Mary Steenburgen previously worked together in Life as a House (2001) and Last Vegas (2013).