Ethan Hawke ‘Obsessed’ With Nicolas Cage, ‘The Purge’ Actor Defends Often-Mocked Movie Star, Compares Cage, Marlon Brando

Actor Ethan Hawke, whose new movie The Purge hits theaters Friday, hosted an "Ask Me Anything" on Reddit earlier this week and among his responses was an ode to fellow actor Nicolas Cage.

Cage is the subject of multiple Internet memes and videos, including "Nicolas Cage Losing His Sh*t" on YouTube, the website "Nic Cage as Everyone" and "Nicolas Cage Vampire."

Cage's...unique...acting style has also led to plenty of criticism and ridicule from late night talk shows and numerous other outlets.

But Hawke decided to defend Cage with the following words:

"I'm kind of obsessed with Nic Cage. I just found out about /r/onetruegod too. He's the only actor since Marlon Brando that's actually done anything new with the art of acting; he's successfully taken us away from an obsession with naturalism into a kind of presentation style of acting that I imagine was popular with the old troubadours. If I could erase his bottom half bad movies, and only keep his top half movies, he would blow everyone else out of the water. He's put a little too much water in his beer, but he is still one of the great actors of our time. And working with him was an absolute pleasure. In fact, one of my favorite scenes I've ever done is the last scene in LORD OF WAR."

Cage's more recent movies, including Bangkok Dangerous, Drive Angry and the Ghost Rider films, are widely regarded as less successful endeavors than his earlier films, such as Con Air, Leaving Las Vegas and Face/Off.