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Capping weeks of headline-grabbing tumult over the Seth Rogen-James Franco comedy “The Interview,” the film finally began to roll out into 331 independent theaters nationwide just after midnight on Christmas Eve. One of the first showings in Los Angeles, a sold-out 12:30 a.m. screening at the Cinefamily Theater on Fairfax Boulevard, drew camera crews, carolers, fans dressed as Uncle Sam — and, in a surprise appearance — co-directors Rogen and Evan Goldberg themselves.

Evan Goldberg and Seth Rogen speak to viewers of 12:30 a.m. screening of "The Interview" at Cinefamily in L.A.'s Fairfax district on Dec. 25, 2014. (Credit: Kirk Hawkins/KTLA)
Evan Goldberg and Seth Rogen speak to viewers of 12:30 a.m. screening of “The Interview” at Cinefamily in L.A.’s Fairfax district on Dec. 25, 2014. (Credit: Kirk Hawkins/KTLA)

“You are the best,” Rogen told the crowd. “We thought this might not happen at all.”

Rogen and Goldberg had been largely out of the public eye for over a week since Sony Pictures first canceled the release of the movie — which centers on the assassination of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un — in the wake of a crippling cyberattack tied by U.S. officials to North Korea. At the eleventh hour, Sony brokered deals to distribute the film via independent theaters and a handful of video-on-demand platforms, including YouTube and Google Play.

Having weathered a firestorm unlike any Hollywood has ever seen, the two were eager to take a public victory lap.

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