Life officially turned into a Charlie Kaufman movie last night, as Occupy Wall Street protesters occupied the Foley Square set of a Law And Order taping, one that had been built as an exact replica of Occupy Wall Street’s former encampment at Zuccotti Park. The production was intended for an episode that would be, in typical Law And Order fashion, “ripped from the headlines” and take place against the backdrop of Occupy Wall Street, where fake cops would investigate a fake crime among fake members of the fake Occupy Wall Street movement. Unfortunately for the crew, real members of the real Occupy Wall Street movement really occupied the fake Zuccotti, investigating the surprisingly faithful facsimiles of their erstwhile camp kitchen and the People’s Library, chanting, "Whose fake park? Our fake park," and holding up signs with slogans such as “We are a movement, not a TV plot.” (Another reason to protest besides corporate co-opting: The episode was being filmed for Law And Order: Special Victims Unit, so you just know it was gonna be one of them sex crimes.)
Bending reality even further, this real occupation of Law And Order’s fake occupation was quickly answered by real cops who shut down the fake Zuccotti Park, rescinding the crew’s film permit and forcing them to disassemble their fake camp—including their fake NYPD barricades—and then disperse alongside the real protesters. There were no arrests made, but everyone involved was immediately imprisoned inside a surreal, existential hall of mirrors.