Considering his expertise as an NYPD officer, Devine definitely brings a sense of realness and authenticity to his roles. He is able to take everything he knows about the world of law enforcement and apply it to his characters. It is definitely what separates him from other actors competing for the same roles.
When asked whether or not he felt he was able to apply his past NYPD duties to his roles, he replied,
“I think to a large degree, yes, especially as a detective, in simple terms, it’s a search for the truth. And certainly, in The Undoing that’s the whole objective of all the characters in the piece. There was something that Nicole Kidman said, I found it very interesting, she said as an actor she has to be 100 percent committed to that truth. Someone had once said to her, 'I can never be an actor because I can’t lie for a living,' and she was taken aback by that because acting is not about lying, it’s 100 percent about truth, and finding the truth. So I find that commonality between being a detective, and being an actor.”