12 Years a Slave enjoyed another fruitful evening at an awards show last night when it picked up three gongs – including that of Best Film - at the British Critics’ Circle Awards.

12 Years a Slave12 Years a Slave is winning big as we approach Oscars night

Steve McQueen will have been disappointed not to be recognised as Best Director, though; the award heading the way of Alfonso Cuaron for his work on Gravity – a film that will be vying for similar honours on March 2 when The Academy close awards season for another year.

The other two mantles for 12 Years were acting ones. Chiwetel Ejiofor and Lupita Nyong’o took Best Actor and Best Supporting Actress respectively – two awards they were expected to win, and will, again, be hoping to take home come Oscars night.

Nyong’o stunned audiences with her breakthrough as Patsy in McQueen’s drama, especially considering it was her first full feature film. And the young actress is now thought of as one of Hollywood’s hottest properties; a reputation that hasn’t ecapted the intrepid Brad Pitt, who wants to take her under his wing and mentor her.

"He thinks she’s mesmerising on screen and wants to mentor her. In Angelina Jolie's absence they went as each other's dates to both ceremonies and were locked in conversation all night. They also had brunch at his LA home on the day of the SAG Awards after Brad flew in from Australia," a source revealed to British magazine Grazia.

"Angelina's desperate to meet Lupita. She thinks she's incredible. They've invited her to stay to discuss what they can work on with Brad's Plan B Entertainment company," the source added.

12 Years a Slave Chiwetel Ejiofor and Michael Fassbender Chiwetel Ejiofor and Michael Fassbender in 12 Years a Slave

Nyong’o has been picking up awards all over the place for her work on 12 Years, the latter if which – according to sources – prompted Pitt to gift her a gold Carier watch. “She was overwhelmed. He wants to start championing new talents and Lupita is top of his list and she's all for it - after all, this is Brad Pitt! We'll definitely be seeing them around together a lot more from now," the source added.