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.

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 he’s a great, world-class human being.”

And if it helps … Paul wasn’t the only one Quentin decided to publicly rip on — he also said he doesn’t “care” for Matthew Lillard and “can’t stand” Owen Wilson as an actor.