Ethan Hawke is defending actor Paul Dano after Quentin Tarantino absolutely trashed PD's acting … finding the silver lining for his unjustly maligned pal!

Check it out ... on Thursday's episode of "The Joe Rogan Experience," the "Blue Moon" star reacted to Quentin's out-of-nowhere sharp criticism of Dano -- telling host Joe Rogan Paul probably didn't realize just how many people love his work. Getty

ICYMI ... last week, Tarantino trashed Dano 's work, saying the 2007 flick "There Will Be Blood" would have been great without one "big giant flaw" -- Dano's portrayal of the character Eli Sunday.

On Rogan's podcast, Ethan reasons further ... "Anybody that knows Quentin knows he just talks, talks, talks, talks, talk, talks, talks," while "anybody that knows Paul knows

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