Last Thursday Universal Pictures held a dinner with Simon Pegg and director Greg Mottola  to help promote the DVD and Blu-Ray release of Paul, which hits stores on August 9.  Pegg was very tired but remained in high spirits as he chatted about everything from the basics of story structure to his favorite Dr. Who iteration.  We’ll have the full story closer to the disc’s street date, but we have some choice cuts for you today.

Between courses Pegg dropped some interesting crumbs about a sequel to Paul that could be called Pauls, his work on Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol and how Star Trek 2 is going to affect The World’s End.  Hit the jump for the quotes.

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On a sequel to Paul?

Pegg: If we could think of a story that was absolutely justifiable, that was worth doing, I would do it again, but for that reason, so I could have that experience again and enjoy working with people, the camaraderie and the friendship. Nick and I have this idea that we had out on the way to Area 51 that was really funny. It was like oh, this could be great. It would cost an absolute fucking fortune. If it involved more than one Paul, it would mean that we’d have to have twice that budget again. The idea was it was called Pauls. Again, it was like From Dusk Til Shaun, that title is so good we have to make that film.

Were you surprised they had a role for you in Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol?

Pegg: Yes and no. I get on really well with J.J. and we’d always said if there was another Mission: Impossible, can Benji come back? It’d be fun for Benji to come back. I had two days on Mission: Impossible III. That was it. I did seven months on the fourth one so yeah, I go back.

Is the film passing the baton from Cruise to Renner?

Pegg: It has been bandied around. Looking at the film as it is, I don’t think so. It’s anyone’s guess really. It certainly sets up a new IMF agent who can return and who is an Ethan level player. We’ll see. I honestly don’t know. It’s one of those things that there’s a lot of life in that story because it is a kind of Bond thing that you can just have iterations of different adventures and different teams and stuff. I can’t say really. I don’t want to give anything away. It’s another Mission: Impossible but it’s an evolution I think.

Does shooting Star Trek 2 in the fall affect your plans with Edgar?

Pegg: Well, what Edgar and I are trying to do is fit in some writing time before I start Star Trek. We’d like to be able to sit down long enough to be able to maybe even get a draft out even. Because I think this time we’ll be able to hit the ground running. We’ve written two films together. We procrastinated a lot on Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz. We watched a lot of films. We luxuriated slightly. I think with this one, because we’re match fit, I think we can do a little bit more on the [makes a noise and typing gesture] and write as good a script but do it slightly more efficiently.

You understand why I hope it means apocalyptic.

Pegg: I do, yeah.

Do you know what it’s about?

Pegg: Oh yeah, yeah, yeah.

Can you tell us?

Pegg: Of course not!