The Wolf of Los Angeles.

"The one and only Meryl Streep!"

"An actress like Meryl Streep comes along only once every fifty years."

"The brightest star in Hollywood, the eternal jewel of the Oscars—Meryl Streep!"

Similar news appeared everywhere in newspapers, on television, and on the internet, praising Meryl as a superstar that was rare in heaven and unparalleled on earth.

No one refuted it, no one raised any objections. The level of tolerance shown towards a deceased Hollywood star, from the industry to the media to the public, was extraordinary.

If Heath Ledger, a second-tier star who died from drug overdose, could be considered a hero, then Meryl Streep, a superstar whose status and fame far surpass his, is even more deserving.

With just a little push from the production team, Paramount Pictures, Twitter, and others, a massive wave of memorial events quickly swept across the United States.

West Olympic Avenue was filled with tens of thousands of bouquets of flowers sent by fans.

Flowers kept arriving.

Flower prices in Los Angeles have skyrocketed.

Fans who were away from home placed orders online to have flowers delivered as a form of mourning.

Meanwhile, in New York where Meryl lived, Los Angeles where she worked, her hometown of New Jersey, Yale University where she studied, and many other places, the public mourned her in various ways.

The most common way to do this is to go to the cinema to watch Meryl Streep's last feature film.

Death is shocking, but the death of the film's female protagonist is even more so.

As the screening scale of "Silali" expanded, its reputation not only did not decline, but instead soared.

Rotten Tomatoes' freshness rating has risen to 98%, and the average IMDb user rating has increased to 9.6, temporarily placing it at the top of the TOP250 list.

The influence that emotions can have is enormous.

"Silali," which already had a very high attendance rate, suddenly became extremely difficult to get tickets for.

Paramount Pictures expanded "Sirius" to 2550 theaters ahead of the new weekend, and the film's North American box office soared to $5112 million.
Queues to buy tickets were seen at many cinemas.

With the encouragement of Paramount Pictures, many cinemas also offered free tissues.

The film is no longer just a film; "Silali" has already been imbued with too many things beyond the realm of cinema, and now it has become a memorial ceremony.

In the media, Meryl Streep and "Siri" received rave reviews.

"Meryl Streep's performance alone is enough to make 'Siri' a great movie, but fortunately, it's more than that. I can declare it the best movie of 2011!"

Given this social context, even media outlets that dislike Meryl Streep and Hillary Clinton have to grit their teeth and say they're good.

The latest Los Angeles Film Critics Circle Awards, Boston Film Critics Circle Awards, and New York Film Critics Circle Awards all awarded Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Director, and Best Picture to "Silali".

…………

Glendale, DreamWorks headquarters.

Spielberg sat at his desk, watching the television screen opposite him as tens of thousands of fans gathered at the Hollywood Bowl, lighting countless candles that illuminated the poster of Meryl Streep as Hillary on the Shell stage.

Lately, all movie-related topics in North America have been dominated by everything related to the name Meryl Streep.

Kathleen Kennedy, on the other side, said, "In the current situation, it's so unfair to us. How can 'Lincoln' possibly compete with 'Sila'?"

Spielberg was also troubled: "Indian Mukesh Ambani invested a huge sum of money in us, wanting to win the Oscar and suppress his brother's investment in 'Silali'."

Kathleen Kennedy thought for a moment and said, "Both are biographical films, but in terms of historical status and achievements alone, ten Hillary Clintons can't compare to one Lincoln."

“But Meryl Streep died, and she was murdered in the street.” Spielberg, who has been in Hollywood for many years, understands the weight of this: “We can’t compare to her in any way. We can’t just commit suicide like Daniel Day-Lewis.”

Upon hearing this, the two film industry moguls, both with ancestral roots in the squid trade, exchanged a knowing glance.

Spielberg quickly shook his head: "That won't work either. Meryl has the advantage of being first, and those who come later can't compete, at least not in this awards season."

Kathleen Kennedy looked distressed: "Are we just going to watch them win the award?"

Spielberg wasn't about to give up so easily, saying, "Best Actress and Best Picture are unlikely, we're focusing all our efforts on Best Actor and Best Director."

He further stated, "In the Best Actor category, even with Meryl Streep's popularity, Leonardo DiCaprio doesn't have much of an advantage over Daniel Day-Lewis. Daniel is the type that the Academy prefers."

Kathleen Kennedy continued, "Eric Ethan just won the Oscar for Best Director last year for 'Sugar Baby,' so his chances of winning this year are slim. There has never been a director in Hollywood who has won the Oscar for Best Director two years in a row."

That being said, Spielberg dared not be complacent: "The person behind this film is Hawke Osment, a ruthless, rich, and unpredictable bastard."

Kathleen Kennedy remembers clearly that Hawke Osment got involved in the Oscar game starting with "Nightcrawler," first helping Tom Cruise win the Oscar for Best Actor, and then making Eric Ethan a top director with "Los Angeles Fire," which perfectly fit the Hollywood era, and winning him the Best Director Oscar.

She said softly, "It's said that Hawke Osment has basically stopped caring about winning Oscars."

At the macro-strategic level, Kathleen Kennedy is far inferior to Spielberg.

The latter shook his head slightly: "The current Hawke Osment no longer pushes Oscar public relations in specific matters. He is always creating the overall environment, and the films his foundation collaborates on with Tom Cruise are all products that fit the social environment. Look at the current public opinion environment. Joseph and the Donald Party have been forced to retreat step by step by the Epstein incident and are at a complete disadvantage. Even without the Meryl Streep incident, 'Sirius' would still be completely superior."

Kathleen Kennedy thought about what had happened in the past few months and said, "Indeed, the Epstein attack brought St. James Island back into the public eye and made it a national hot topic again."

Spielberg added, "It has to be said that Meryl's death will maximize the film's impact in every aspect."

Kathleen Kennedy's heart skipped a beat: "Could Meryl be one of them...?"

“You can’t say things like that.” Spielberg was also making wild guesses in his mind, but he would never say them out loud: “Once we’re out of here, forget your suspicions.”

Kathleen Kennedy knew what was important; she left the office without saying a word.

She was concerned about another aspect: "The Donald Party and Joseph contacted us, wanting us to speak out for him."

"Let's wait and see how things go." Spielberg had more to consider. After all, his and DreamWorks' roots were in California, and he had to consider practical interests: "Let's not make a sound yet. There will definitely be some fools rushing to the front."

Catherine, after all, is a veteran of the film industry with six or seven decades of experience. She still remembers how Hollywood was full of right-wingers back then. Those impulsive fools rushed to the front, and what determined their stance was always self-interest.

…………

Century City, Beverly Business Club.

Erica drove her Mercedes-Benz G-Class directly into the backyard.

Hawke was waiting at the door.

Erica got out of the car and asked, "Has Jennifer arrived?"

Hawke glanced at his watch and said, "I'll be there soon."

The two entered the business club together and arrived at Hawke's private meeting room.

Less than five minutes later, Jennifer knocked on the door and came in.

Erica had just brewed some black tea, poured her a cup, and said, "Try it, it's fresh tea that was just flown in from Asia."

Hawke waited for her to sit down and asked, "Have you brought back all the materials from New York?"

“The New York FBI was very cooperative, and things went smoothly.” Jennifer told Hawke and Erica directly, “My people went to see Hayes’ apartment and took a lot of photos and videos. Everything was just as my New York colleagues said, absolutely impeccable.”

Erica, who has worked at the LAPD, has insights into this: "Impeccable often means meticulously arranged."

Jennifer shrugged slightly: "That's right, but we can't find a reason. It's New York territory... I think that after Sillaly's death, the Satanists had other ideas and didn't want to be completely tied to Joseph as cannon fodder."

Hawke put down his teacup and said, "Judging from the current situation, the Satanic Church doesn't want to get involved."

Jennifer nodded, opened her briefcase, took out a file folder, and handed it to Hawke, saying, "This is Hayes' detailed information. He's been a madman for Meryl for thirty years. The information collected from the apartment shows that Hayes joined the Church of Almighty God, the Temple, the Manson Family, and the Church of Satan in his pursuit of Meryl, hoping that his faith could help him achieve his dream..."

Hawke asked, "Doesn't he have any family?"

“No, Hayes is unmarried and has no girlfriend. It seems like the only thing worth doing in his life is chasing after celebrities.” Jennifer had someone investigate carefully: “He has a half-sister, but the two sides haven’t been in contact for over thirty years.”

Erica opened the file and began to read: "This is an invincible person."

Jennifer laughed: "Pretty much, but it's quite rare to see a man go to such an absurd level of fandom."

Hawke uttered a name: "Remember the one who assassinated Reagan, John Hinkley?"

Jennifer said, "Sinkley has been receiving intensive care at St. Elizabeth Hospital."

Hawke remembered that the guy fired six shots, and if Reagan had been less lucky, he would definitely be dead.

Jennifer continued, "It wasn't easy for this guy to come out of it. For a while, he said his treatment had worked and he was no longer obsessed with Jodie Foster. As a result, the FBI agents who came to assess him found a Jodie Foster postcard under Sinclair's bed."

Hawke returned to the main point: "What about Hayes's political stance?"

“There is no bias whatsoever,” Jennifer said simply. “We investigated this matter and asked many people who had direct contact with Hayes. Hayes does not care about social and political affairs. We also checked Hayes’ voting records. He has never participated in any elections, whether in New York City or in any federal election.”

Erica smiled and said, "This person must have been carefully selected by the Satanic cult."

Hawke agreed: "It's obvious that the Satanists don't want to offend us, nor do they want to completely give up the Donald Party's connections. So they carefully trained one person and carefully selected another from the film crew."

Meryl Streep is not on their side.

Jennifer said, "Even so, this tragedy could have been avoided, but Meryl didn't heed our warnings."

If Meryl Streep had been accompanied by two male bodyguards, the outcome might have been different.

Hawke asked, "Is there any evidence pointing to Satanism?"

Jennifer shook her head directly: "There is no evidence at all, and the sects involved are not only Satanism, but also Almighty God, the Temple, and the Manson Family. We have already conducted routine questioning of the relevant personnel, but we don't expect to get any results."

She can basically conclude: "In terms of legal procedures, even if we know it was done by the Satanic cult, there's no good way to proceed for the time being."

Hawke considered for a moment, then asked, "What does Brian mean?"

Jennifer said, "He suggested putting Satanism aside for the time being and using Meryl Streep's assassination to focus all efforts on the publicity and public relations of the movie 'Sirius' in order to gain a further advantage in public opinion."

Since Brian had this idea, Hawke wouldn't disagree and said, "Let's do as Brian says."

Jennifer nodded: "Tomorrow I will hold a press conference at the FBI branch office to release this series of evidence, as well as all of Hayes' background information."

The truth of the case is not important; the needs of the powerful are paramount.

Especially cases involving political struggles.

The following morning, the FBI Los Angeles office held a press conference to announce a series of investigation results regarding the Meryl Streep case.

In fact, several media outlets had already conducted related investigations before the FBI.

The FBI's investigation findings were largely consistent with those published by the media and did not cause much controversy.

Ultimately, in the public eye, it was seen as just another case of a fanatical fan targeting their idol, similar to the cases of John Lennon and Reagan.

But conspiracy theories exist everywhere, and many media outlets speculate wildly without finding any evidence.

Hawke took some time to meet with Brian again. Their main focus now was the election, and everything else could be put aside for the time being.

If Brian is elected, Satanism will not be a problem.

Memorial events for Meryl Streep were held one after another, and with the help of the media, at least for this period of time, Meryl Streep has become the most influential female star in Hollywood history.

Just like Heath Ledger for *The Dark Knight* and Paul Walker for *Furious 7*, *Silly Hills*'s box office success seemed to take off, easily surpassing $1 million in North America before Christmas. (End of Chapter)