Kanye West and Steve McQueen are developing a close friendship.

The '12 Years a Slave' director bonded with the 'New Slaves' rapper when he recently interviewed him for the January issue of Interview magazine and Steve hasn't ruled out working with him in the future.

Speaking at the 66th Annual Directors Guild Awards in Los Angeles on Saturday night (25.01.14), the moviemaker told EOnline.com: ''We talk all the time. He's a very lovely man. A lovely man.''

He said he respects Kanye, 36, ''because he's an experimenter, he's tireless in trying to create sound and music. That he can be progressive within the now. He's very current.''

He added: ''I'm just happy that he's around.''

Asked if the duo have plans to work together in the future, Steve said: ''I don't know. I mean, we're working on a friendship.''

Meanwhile, 'Gravity' director Alfonso Cuaron won the Directors Guild of America's top award for Feature Film at the annual ceremony.

Accepting his trophy, he said: ''This is truly an honour and I'm humbled by it.

Other big winners included Steven Soderbergh, who picked up the Movies For Television And Mini-Series award for 'Behind The Candelabra' and the honorary Robert B. Aldrich award for service and achievement in the film industry.

Full List of Winners from the 66th Annual Directors Guild Awards:

Feature Film:

Alfonso Cuarón, 'Gravity'

Documentary:

Jehane Noujaim, 'The Square'

Dramatic Series:

Vince Gilligan, 'Breaking Bad' - 'Felina'

Comedy Series:

Beth McCarthy-Miller, '30 Rock' - 'Hogcock!/Last Lunch'

Movies for Television or Mini-Series:

Steven Soderbergh, 'Behind the Candelabra'

Variety/Talk/News/Sports - Regularly Scheduled Programming:

Don Roy King, 'Saturday Night Live' - 'Saturday Night Live with Host Justin Timberlake'

Variety/Talk/News/Sports - Specials:

Glenn Weiss, 'The 67th Annual Tony Awards'

Reality Programme:

Neil P. DeGroot, '72 Hours' - 'The Lost Coast'

Children's Programme:

Amy Schatz, 'An Apology to Elephants'

Commercials:

Martin de Thurah, 'The Man Who Couldn't Slow Down, Hennessy VS; Human Race,' Acura MDX 2014

Robert B. Aldrich Award: Steven Soderbergh