The Spider-Man franchise has a reluctant protagonist in its star Tobey Maguire, who has now lived out more web-slinging adventures than quirky leading men twice his age, and who sounds more interested in watching his baby Ruby Sweetheart take her first earthbound steps than he is chasing The Lizard up the side of a skyscraper. Among the terms of his recent negotiation with Sony to shoot Spider-Man 4 through 5, he insisted, among the expected profit-sharing perks, upon a shortened schedule to accommodate for daddy-daughter bonding time, reports The Times Online:

Maguire was willing to shoot Spider-Man 4 and 5 back-to-back over six months next year but insisted he should take early mornings and evenings off so he could play with his “favourite blonde”, Ruby Sweetheart, who is 22 months old.

The 33-year-old actor is expected to earn a record $50m salary and profit shares from the two films, substantially more than Keanu Reeves earned when he shot the last two Matrix films back-to-back. Reeves complained that it left him exhausted.

Now that the precedent has been set, this arrangement could become a widely sought after deal-point in all movie star negotiations—though we doubt Jack Nicholson's insistence that he too enjoys spoon-feeding pureed foods to a very young, blonde companion he calls "Sweetheart" will be enough to convince studio heads that he qualifies for the Maguire Family-Time Schedule Special.