Nicolas Cage backs Bradley Cooper after 'Maestro' upset

Nicolas Cage is all praise for Bradley Cooper after Maestro.

The 60-year-old actor spoke of him at the premiere of his new movie Arcadian, held at the South By Southwest festival in Austin, Texas on Monday.

Nicolas shared what he and the 49-year-old filmmaker talked about during the Academy Awards earlier this weekend as he was “very impressed” with his work on the Leonard Bernstein biopic.

He also told PEOPLE that he’d excitedly collaborate with his Hangover co-star in the future if he gets a chance to.

“Bradley is a hell of an actor. I admire what he's accomplished,” Nicholas added, and further expressed his admiration for the 'A Star As Born' actor for putting an impressive amount of effort into his projects.

“Jerry Lewis used to tell me, ‘You're not a filmmaker unless you star in your own movie and direct your own movie, compose and edit your own movie.’ And Bradley's doing that,” Nicolas shared.

His praise comes after Bradley was nominated for the awards for Best Actor and Best Original Screenplay for his work on Maestro.

Despite not winning any awards, the cast and crew of the film garnered a total of seven nominations for their work on the biopic.