"I'm sure they'll keep making Spider-Man pictures," says Raimi, who has signed up for each one individually. (Maguire was contracted for all three.) "Amy [Pascal, Sony cochairman] told me that she would. I love Spider-Man. And I love working with Kirsten, Tobey, James. I don't know if Thomas and Topher will be around in the next one, but probably Bryce will be. But I have to make sure that when I'm done with this picture I'm really still fascinated with the character. At this moment I'm fascinated with him. Whether or not I will be in six months when the movie's done I couldn't say. And I absolutely would not have anything to do with the picture unless I was hungry to tell the story."

Could Raimi imagine doing Spider-Man without Maguire?

"I'd rather not," he says, and then, "No, I couldn't imagine it."

Would Maguire do another without Raimi? "That would be a long shot," the actor says. "But you never know, I guess. It would be a whole different thing. But that's not to say there wouldn't be a reason to do that at some point if the right story was out there. I feel like Sam would be involved even if he didn't want to direct it."

Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst in Spider-Man.

Raimi does seem quite attached to his cast; he's watched them grow up over the course of three installments. "Remember on the first movie, Tobey and Kirsten had a thing?" he asks. "I'm so dumb, because I met with them for dinner one night during the shooting to talk about the next day's scenes. And I go, 'Okay, well, that's it for the meeting.' And then I ask Kirsten, 'Can I drive you home?' And they look at each other and she goes, 'No, no, I'm going to play a game of Touch 10 with Tobey.' I don't know, it was some game. I thought, 'That's weird. She's got to work tomorrow.'"

Five years later, Maguire is engaged to Jennifer Meyer, a jewelry designer (Peter gives one of her heart-shaped lockets to Mary Jane in Spider-Man 3) and daughter of Universal president and COO Ron Meyer; the couple had a baby girl in November. Raimi himself has added another child to his brood, which now numbers five (the newest arrival was born just two nights before our interview). Last year, Franco went back to UCLA to get a degree in creative writing. As for Dunst, she says, "I just felt more confident as a collaborator on this one. I think 'cause we've all grown up together. Our relationships have become more open and honest and I think that in turn made for a richer experience for all of us."

"The Spider-Man stories have always been coming-of-age stories," Raimi says. "I feel like the movies must draw upon what happens in our lives together. So to watch Tobey mature as a human being, just seems fitting. I've seen him go from a single guy to... He's no longer swinging, you know."