An accomplished, self-taught pianist, Jack Lemmon wrote the theme for the movie Un fils pour l'été (1980).
Producer Michael Douglas amended the shooting schedule of Le syndrome chinois (1979) to allow Jack Lemmon to attend rehearsals for the Broadway stage play of Un fils pour l'été (1980). Douglas was enormously grateful to Lemmon as he remained ready to start work at very short notice for over a year before production started and in the process cost himself a lot of other work. Lemmon agreed to play his role in that movie as early as 1976 and Douglas returned the favor.
Jack Lemmon once said of his character Scottie Templeton: "If I had to choose one role as my favorite this has got to be it!". Lemmon once said of "Tribute"'s story, it's "the most fascinating mixture of comedy and drama that I've found since La garçonnière (1960)".
Prior to the film's source play opening on Broadway, playwright Bernard Slade and producer Morton Gottlieb sold the film rights to the Paramount Pictures studio for more than US $1 million. On the play's big opening night party at Tavern on the Green, Gottlieb gave payment in full checks to investors without even having to rely on monies from the film sale.