Greg Kinnear suggested character name of Keegan based on him being called "Kee" by Jack Nicholson on the set of 'As Good as It Gets (1997)'.
Although Kinnear says he was excited to be given a personal nickname by Nicholson himself, he soon learned that "Kee" was the name Nicholson called anyone whose name he did not know.
Based on an Australian series of the same name
Titular character name of Cleaver Greene from the Australian original (Rake (2010)) was changed to Keegan Deane for the US remake as head writer Peter Duncan said he would otherwise have original actor Richard Roxburgh in his mind.
Rake is an American comedy-drama television series that is an adaptation of the Australian series of the same name (Rake (2010)), both of which are created by Peter Duncan. Richard Roxburgh, star of the original series served as an Executive Producer.
The early episodes were aired out of order, as the original pilot, written by Peter Duncan and directed by Sam Raimi, had "an overload of not drama ... but maybe a little sadness," according to producer Peter Tolan.