Jane Seymour says Somewhere in Time almost wasn’t released, and when it was, it “got the worst reviews of all time” — but still managed to become a cult classic.
The 74-year-old actress, who starred in the 1980 romantic fantasy alongside Christopher Reeve, admits she was shocked by the movie’s lasting success.
“The movie was almost not put out. Universal did not publicize it [at] all. There was an actor’s strike, so Chris and I weren’t allowed to even promote it. And then it got the worst reviews of all time,” Seymour tells PEOPLE the AARP Movies for Grownups Awards on Jan. 10.
While the movie didn’t immediately land with audiences in America, Seymour says it grew a following overseas.
“Then the next thing I knew, a friend of mine in Hong Kong said, ‘You have no idea. Your movie is the number one movie in Hong Kong. People watch it 20 times,'” she shares. “And I went to Hong Kong and was mobbed. Mobbed. I thought I was one of the Beatles.”
Seymour recalls having “10 armed guards” around her while “people were crushing me.”
“I was like, ‘What? That movie that nobody wanted to see?'” she recalls. “And it just got bigger and bigger.”
After they finished filming the movie, Seymour says she and Reeve “promised” each other that they would return to Mackinac Island, Mich., where the movie was filmed.
“The next thing we knew, the fans, who finally found Somewhere in Time, decided to start an organization called the International Network of Somewhere in Time Enthusiasts, called INSITE,” she shares, noting that the group even made “amazing magazines” about the film.
“And Chris went back there and said, ‘You’re not going to believe what’s going on. People are coming here. They’re dressing up like us. They’re playing the roles. They’re doing all of that,'” she says.
Eventually, Seymour “went and saw it” for herself.