Karen Allen Recalls Working with Harrison Ford, Steven Spielberg on ‘Raiders of the Lost Ark’ (Exclusive)

“We all started out as these kids who didn't have much worldly experience,” Allen told PEOPLE at the “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny” premiere

Karen Allen is taking a stroll down memory lane.

While attending the Los Angeles premiere of Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny at The Dolby Theater on Wednesday, the 71-year-old actress reflected on reuniting with her Raiders of the Lost Ark family and what it was like filming with Hollywood legends Harrison Ford and Steven Spielberg.

“What can I say? We have a lot of fun together,” Allen told PEOPLE exclusively, before opening up about how Ford, 80, and Spielberg, 76, have changed since the 1980s, when they shot the first Indiana Jones film.

Detailing that Ford has "really grown and matured" in the four decades since, Allen said, "When we first worked together, we were both pretty young, but we've had marriages and children."

Explaining that the same can be said about Spielberg as well, the star continued, “We all started out as these kids who didn't have much worldly experience — who wanted to be actors or directors or whatever — and then suddenly we found ourselves in this extraordinary film."

“I think we've all kind of grown and matured and lived interesting lives along the way that have really affected who we are as people," Allen added.

Related: Harrison Ford Says He’s ‘Very, Very Grateful’ to Have Been Indiana Jones

The actress, who made her big screen debut in 1978's Animal House, also chatted with PEOPLE about how her character Marion had an impact on audiences.

“It took a while for me to really get that,” she admitted to PEOPLE. “I think it might have been 10 or 15 years after the film was made."

“I knew the film had been very successful, but I think it was fans of the film who really started to convey to me how much the character had meant to them," she continued.

Added Allen: “I don't think I really understood that in the beginning when the film was first out and even for years afterwards. But then these waves of appreciation for this character started to come towards me, and it helped me really see something in it that I hadn't necessarily seen."

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Related: Harrison Ford and Calista Flockhart Step Out for 'Indiana Jones' Premiere Ahead of Wedding Anniversary

Allen — who started off as a theater actress and never imagined she’d be in films — also said that she didn’t truly grasp the type of movie they were making when she and Ford shot the original film.

“I don't know about him, but I don't know that I really understood what kind of film we were making, in a way,” she told PEOPLE. “I'd read the script, but I think I had something very different in my head in terms of what I thought we were doing.”

Admitting it started to click during filming, Allen continued, “I think we had a lot of appreciation for where we were finding ourselves. We were finding ourselves in the Sahara Desert. It was extraordinary."

“It affects so much of the storytelling when you're in these exotic, interesting places that you never imagined you would be in. And then you find yourself there and you're working with each other, telling a story," she added. "So I think we had an awful lot of fun doing that.”

Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny hits theaters on June 30.

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