One character's makeup in particular stood out from the rest. The late Pamela Rooke, a punk fashion luminary and original employee at Westwood's lauded clothing boutique "Sex," was brought to life on-screen by "Game of Thrones" actor Williams. From her cubist, Piet Mondrian-inspired face paint (now one of the most recognized images of the 1970s London punk scene) to her sweeping, exaggerated black eyeliner, Rooke's fearless approach to beauty helped land her the title of the Queen of Punk.

Before her death in April this year, Rooke was a constant presence on set, Primorac said. "What was amazing was, when Maisie was filming, (Rooke) saw her and was almost in tears because she suddenly saw herself and her past," she said. "The (Sex) shop was recreated, the street looked exactly the same, and there (was Williams) standing completely in the same clothes. It was quite a touching moment."

Rooke was liberal with feedback on how to perfect her look. "She was very, very, very involved," Primorac said. "We went through the whole routine and why the black eyeliner had to be wider at the sides and narrower at the front. She literally talked us through how she came and arrived at that look, what she used and why she used it."

The Queen of Punk was also on hand to steer the team away from any factual inaccuracies -- something rarely offered to artists involved in biopics. "There was one very iconic picture of her with red eyeliner on which we wanted to recreate, but (Rooke) said 'No, I never wore that.'" According to Primorac, Rooke remembered that day vividly -- she had gone to work at Westwood's Kings Road boutique after being out all night and forgot her makeup. "Then Malcolm McLaren (Westwood's former partner) told Rooke, 'get yourself ready because there's going to be a photographer.' So she just picked up a lipstick and did something in red. She only did it once, yet I thought it was one of her looks. So we didn't include it in the film."

Now that the fashion world has revived fetish gear, perhaps a new version of the punk beauty aesthetic will soon follow. Those keen to recreate the lethal-looking spikes of Johnny Rotten or the enormous beehives of Rooke at home will be pleased to find the glue that held together the punk production was surprisingly accessible. "L'Oreal Elnett hairspray," Primorac said. "There was a lot of Elnett hairspray."