"The Interview" writer, director and star Seth Rogen thanked Sony Pictures co-chairman Amy Pascal during the film's premiere on Thursday.

"I'd like to thank Amy Pascal for having the balls to make this movie," Rogen said onstage at the premiere at The Theatre at the Ace Hotel in Los Angeles.alongside co-director and producer Evan Goldberg, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Star James Franco was also at the premiere, which had a full crowd, but neither Rogen, nor Franco, nor Goldberg gave interviews to the media.

Rogen told the press that being pursued by a reporter was the first time he "felt insecure in months."

In "The Interview," Rogen and Franco's characters plot the assassination of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. The North Korean government has condemned the controversial comedy and called it an "act of war." There has been speculation that the country may be behind the recent cyberattack on Sony Pictures Entertainment, but North Korean officials have denied involvement, reports TIME.

The cyberattack resulted in the leak of emails between Sony chief executive Kazuo Hirai and Pascal. In the emails, Hirai asked Pascal to tone down certain scenes in "The Interview." He specifically wanted her to change a scene showing Kim Jong-un's head exploding.

Pascal passed Hirai's request and concerns to Rogen.

"And this isn't some flunky," she wrote. "It's the chairman of the entire Sony Corporation."

Rogen responded that he would remove a few burn marks from Kim Jong-un's face and reduce the "flaming hair" by 50 percent but refused to remove the scene.

"The head explosion can't be more obscured than it is because we honestly feel that if it's any more obscured, you won't be able to tell it's exploding and the joke won't work," he wrote.

In an Aug. 15 email, Rogen wrote the situation was now a story of Americans changing their movie to make North Koreans happy, and that "is a very damning story."

The film has been under attack in recent weeks by an organization calling itself "Guardians of Peace." The group has made threats that harm in the form of "9/11 type" attacks would come to cinemas and movie-goers who supported the film. The terroristic threats have led to theaters refusing to show the film, Rogen and Franco canceling press appearances and Sony has confirmed that they are canceling "The Interview".

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