Al Pacino has revealed that Walter Huston's 1941 performance in The Devil and Daniel Webster was the key inspiration behind his own portrayal of Satan in the 1997 film The Devil's Advocate. Pacino, who played the character John Milton, studied several previous depictions of the devil on screen before finding his own approach, showing how established actors continue to draw on cinema history even decades into their careers.

Pacino said Huston's performance "sanctioned" his own attempt at the role, giving him the confidence to develop his interpretation, and recalled being struck with awe when he first saw it. He also considered other portrayals, including Jack Nicholson's Daryl Van Horne in The Witches of Eastwick and Robert De Niro's turn in Angel Heart, but found Huston's subtle, powerful performance the most influential. Pacino has previously passed similar advice about seeking meaningful roles on to Colin Farrell, urging him to find characters worth caring about even within big commercial films.