The character Shinzon from the Star Trek: Nemesis movie wears a costume which looks like some kind of metal/plastic armor. It's sort of a blue-black colour and iridescent, but seems to show an unusual range of rainbow tones when he moves through different lighting conditions. Sometimes it almost appears reflective (like a traffic sign). For all I know, it's just cheap blue plastic given a sheen of oil.
But I'd like to duplicate this appearance on metal sheets. Could Shinzon's iridescent effect be easily duplicated on flat sheet instead of curved surfaces? Can anodizing produce these sorts of iridescent effects? Do adhesive vinyls exist in this particular blue-black-iridescent-reflector colour? Are there any exotic tricks with layering, mixing, or blowtorching paints to mimic this effect? Is it a pearlescent thing, translucent, what?
The guys at the shop only know basic surfacing techniques, and this is apparently something more akin to professional automotive painting.