Is Lupita dating her ‘Slave’ co-star?

Michael Fassbender and Lupita Nyong’o are dating, The Sun reports.

According to the newspaper, the 12 Years a Slave co-stars have been in an on/off relationship in recent months since connecting on the set of the Oscar-winning drama, and Fassbender is now keen to show Nyong’o that he is "serious" about their romance.

A source told The Sun: "They have an incredible connection after the whirlwind of filming 12 Years A Slave and then promoting it together.

"In September during the Toronto Film Festival they had a brief romance. Now Michael is intent on showing how he wants to get serious again and made a point of bringing his mum Adele to the Oscars rather than a date.

"Lupita’s the most in-demand woman in the world at the moment so it will be hard to make it work but their chemistry is undeniable."

Kenyan actress Nyong’o (31) – who won the best supporting actress Oscar for her role as the slave Patsey at Sunday’s ceremony – previously revealed that she and Fassbender (36) shared a "ritual" to cope with the intensity of the scenes they were working on – which included Fassbender’s slave-owner character beating Patsey while she was tied naked to a pole.

Nyong’o revealed: "Michael and I had a ritual that we never even really spoke about – we would make nice right before a scene, and then we’d make nice after a scene.

"Just looking into each other’s eyes, an embrace, a squeeze of the hands – that would button the scene.

"And at the end of the day when the director Steve McQueen said cut, we would go out and enjoy the freedom that these people we were playing has granted us.

"It was a very close-knit cast and crew."