At the premiere of The Interview, Seth Rogen took to the stage to say a few words. “Before we start, we just want to thank Amy Pascal for having the balls to make this movie!” Rogen said to raucous applause, according to Variety.

It was a show of support and gratitude from Rogen, who co-wrote and co-starred in the assassination comedy, for Pascal, the Sony Pictures Entertainment co-chair, who has weathered a storm of intense media scrutiny in the wake of a massive cyber-attack by the collective Guardians of Peace that may have stemmed from North Korean displeasure over the film.

The Interview stars Kanye West favorite, Rogen, and James Franco as reporters who are granted an audience with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. The CIA then enlists the pair to assassinate him.

In June, North Korea described The Interview as an act of war and denounced it as an “undisguised sponsoring of terrorism”, and called on the U.S. and the United Nations to block its release. Sony Pictures went ahead with the film despite the threats, and the massive hack Sony suffered may be in retaliation for that decision.

In the wake of the cyberattack, which resulted in leaked emails and films, Sony Pictures announced last week that The Interview stars would be giving no interviews at the Hollywood premiere of the film. Accordingly, when facing the press at the premiere, Rogen announced, “If you’re going to ask me questions, I’m going to run away!” According to Variety, Rogen lived up to his word,, leaving the red carpet without answering reporters’ questions.

Rogen’s public display of gratitude towards Pascal was particularly poignant, because according to the BBC, the two had gone head-to-head over re-editing the film to cut out some of the violence.

The Interview will be in theaters on Christmas Day in the U.S.