- Studio 5 is only seconds away

and actor, Tom Hanks is taking us inside

the World War II film, "Greyhound."

Actor Grayson Russellhas a role in that film.

He's sitting down with usfor a fun conversation,

and we're giving you abehind the scenes look

at the making of Disney's "Frozen II."

It's showtime, let's get started.

(upbeat music)

And welcome to Studio 5.

We are so happy you're joiningus for this week's countdown,

of the five big stories in the world

of uplifting entertainmentand so much more.

So let the countdown begin.

At number five.

- I really felt like we could be over.

- Yeah, no we were over.

- [Host] This candid conversation

between actor Will Smith andhis wife, Jada Pinkett Smith,

has sparked a splash ofheadlines and lots of talk.

But amidst all the noise,

there is another messageWill wants to get out,

especially in response to the uprising

against racism in our country.

- I'm responsible formy words and my actions,

being loving and productive.

- [Host] This interviewwith political commentator

Angela Rye, marks theactor's first public response

to the protests thatbegan unfolding around us,

following the death of George Floyd.

- If there is a singularmessage I would have

to this next generationas they're seizing control

of this world

is

don't succumb to lovelessness,

no matter how much evil you face.

'Cause you poison yourself

and you poison your own community

when you succumb to lovelessness.

- [Host] At number four.

- You spent this room andthis time putting together

these masks for the people.

- Mm-hmm.

- So you're a part of that tradition.

- I'm honored.

- [Host] That's rapper Lecrae,

at Atlanta's historicEbeneezer Baptist Church,

announcing a partnershipto supply 70,000 masks

to prisoners, essentialworkers, protestors,

and some of his city's most vulnerable

in the fight to avoid the coronavirus.

- I think a lot of us take for granted

how easy it is for usto just put a mask on,

and find some hand sanitizer.

It is not that accessible for other people

and so you all are contributing to that.

- And we will continue the countdown

throughout the remainder of this show.

Picking things up at numberthree in just the little bit.

US Navy commander,Ernest Krause is assigned

to lead an allied convoyacross the Atlantic

during World War II.

It's a true story TomHanks brings to life,

as the writer and starof the film "Greyhound."

(dramatic music)

- [Man] Dear Lord, letyour Holy angel be with me.

(whale clicking)

Let the evil followingme have no power over me.

(submarine horn)

Into your hands I commendmyself, my body and soul, Amen.

- [Hanks] The battle ofthe Atlantic is everything

that happened in the Atlantic ocean,

from the moment World War II began.

There were thousands of ships

that were operating at any given moment,

trying to make the perilous journey

from the Western Hemisphere to Britain,

sending what was neededto liberate Europe.

(man shouting)

And they were all would betargets of the Nazi submarines.

And the Nazi submarines were just as fast

when they were on the surface.

- Con combat looks like ourfriends come up with fresh air

and to maintain speed with us.

Contact bearing 207, range three miles.

(dramatic music)

- [Hanks] Early in the war,the American ships had radar.

They could see what was on the surface,

but it was a spotty radar.

It often didn't work very well.

- What's going on?

- I don't know, sir, Ican't get a good read.

- So you're relying on your eyes,

much like a guy withbinoculars on the bridge,

with sonar and hydrophonesrelying on your ears.

- Got them contact closestarted beam zero wait three.

- Now Mr. Lopez.

- Fire! Fire!

(guns shooting)

- Come on.

- And all those things canplay tricks with you over time.

- Sonar ranks anything further?

(water gushing)

- Still stationary possible decoy.

- Sonar report, contact isnot moving possible decoy.

(upbeat music)

- Yet another challenge was

how primitive communicationwas between parts

of the ship to the captain.

(chattering)

- Contact been started.- Contact been started

zero, one, two range 600 yards sir.

- Mr. Lopez, stand bywith a medium pattern.

- Men are ready sir.

- [Hanks] It was a guy's job to repeat

what they just heard to the captain

or repeat what the captain just told them,

to whoever he's talking to.

And it has to be exact.

- Contact now base port zero one two,

range 1000 yards of closing.

(upbeat music)

- Ideally a convoy goes across the ocean

without ever talking toanybody but themselves.

Any radio signal going fromthe convoy to headquarters.

You didn't wanna send those out

because if anybody was listening,

they'd know where you were.

- You want break radio silence

with a message to the admiralty?

- Every ship was on their own.

- We are running down totarget let us at 10 30 as well.

This is what we are trained for.

(upbeat music)

- [Hanks] There have beenmovies about World War II,

but we expanded it.

Embracing the details,but at the same time,

tying those details into the human story.

What do we rely on in orderto get us through this?

We'll bring hell down from on high.

Our movie puts a magnifying glass

on the history of thebattle of the Atlantic.

There they come.

(tense music)

- And Greyhound is streamingright now on Apple TV.

Coming up.

- Hey guys, anyone want some pizza?

- [Host] This popularchild star is all grown up.

(submarine roaring)

- Up top report the Germantransmission bearing,

087 degrees range 15 and 20 miles.

- [Host] With an impressiverole in Greyhound.

- Faith in general iswhat drives everyone.

Whether it's faith in Godor faith in themselves.

- Grayson Russel nowgraces a seat in Studio 5.

- That's me at my chore.

(soft music)

- [Narrator] Life it'smeant to be lived fully.

Jesus said it, "I came to give you life."

Life to the fullest.

Life in your family.

Life in your finances,

life in your body, mind and spirit.

Life in your everyday.

At cbn.com we're takingwhat Jesus said seriously.

We're here to help you discover life.

Life,

live it fully.

cbn.com.

- [Host] At number three.

- Got in.

I haven't clicked at it.

Congratulations.

(clapping)

Oh!

- [Host] Congratulations, Ron Stayton.

You're going to Harvard law school.

- Time got really tough.

I mean food insecurities,housing insecurity,

we didn't even have heat in the winter.

I'm high GPA

was at the low 2.0 and

I got denied by everysingle college I applied to.

So I just opted to go workfor the local trash company.

- [Host] Coworkers at that trash company,

encouraged Tim to get his grades up

and to get into theuniversity of Maryland.

- I wake up at 4:00 o'clock,

go to go to work, clean my dumpsters,

get off, go to school.

Then after school,

I go back to finish the shift.

- [Host] He's now headed

to his dream law school.

- I got into Harvard.

And really, it was probablyjust the greatest moment

of my life specificallybecause I finally felt

that I could pay back my dad

and my brother for all their sacrifices.

- [Host] At number two.

- Dear Lord,

let your Holy angel bear with me.

- [Host] Faith is at the heart

of the Tom Hanks WorldWar II film, Greyhound,

streaming now on Apple TV.

It's a real life inspired tale

of Ernest Krause.

Pulled from the pages of C.S. Forester's

1955 book, The Good Shepherd.

- I play a really great role,

because I'm the right age for it.

But also make a movie

that even though it takes place in 1942,

really does speak to the human condition,

and the human behavior, even right now.

- Well, that leaves uswith only one more story

in this week's countdown.

That's coming up shortly.

Welcome back to Studio 5.

Right now we wanna continue our look

at the film Greyhound,

through the eyes ofanother star in the film,

Grayson Russell.

Grayson is actually justabout to graduate college,

but he's already enjoying

a long career in film.

(dramatic music)

- Up top reports of German transmission

bearing 087 degrees range 15 and 20 miles.

- [Host] Greyhound.

How did you come to the film

and what do you think of the story

now that people are about to see it?

- Yeah, you know, it's funny.I was 19 when we filmed it

and I just turned 22 acouple of months ago.

So it's been a, (laughs)it's been a long time coming.

I remember literally falling to the ground

in my grandparents bedroom.

I had just come home from college,

for Valentine's Day weekend.

And I got a call that Friday saying,

"Hey, we need you on Tuesdayto be in Baton Rouge,

to begin bootcamp for the Navyand Marines, for Greyhound."

- [Host] Wow.

- Oh, by the way,

you'll be working withTom Hanks for two months.

(laughing)

I just remember I, I, just on my knees.

It's like, "Oh my God, thank you so much."

(dramatic music)

- Air escort to Greyhound,

you will now be out of range of air cover

for the next five days.

(plane engines roaring)

- Safe travels to England.

(suspenseful music)

How many crossings does this take?

- 'Cause it's my first...

- [Host] But what didyou think of the story

in that time in history?

- I've always been a history buff, period.

More or less, regardless of the period.

Right before I auditioned for Greyhound,

one of my dear friends passed away.

He was 99, uh, served inthe Pacific, in the Navy.

So for me it was not somuch a historical piece,

as it wasn't tribute toone of my best friends.

- We have hits directly on the convoy.

(dramatic music)

- The wolf pack's hunting us.

(submarine alarm)

- The boat, star on the crown.

(submarine alarm)

- In 48 hours we've lost seven ships.

(artillery firing)

50 soldiers.

- I was watching an interview that,

Tom did for a separate deal,

at how similar the times we've gone out,

where we're seeing him going,

"Okay, we don't reallyknow when this COVID stuff

is going to end. We'renot entirely sure how

we're going to navigate it.

But we're all in this together,

to an extent to this purpose,

to get to the end of it.

Uh, no different than the sailors,

sitting on this boat in themiddle of nowhere and going,

"Okay, we have to figure out a way

to get things thatEurope needs to survive."

- Right.

- We've got to get there.

Hell or high water.

And we get a whole lot of both.

We get 90 minutes of both(laughs) with Greyhound.

- Tell us about your character.

You play a signalman.

- Yes, sir. So I play asignalman, second class.

And my job was to keeplines of communication open

between this great big convoy,

while allowing us to stay radio silent,

so the Nazis couldn't hear us.

(dramatic music)

- Target's disappeared sir.

- Greyhound. Good luck surviving tonight.

(dial clicking)

(sonar beeping)

- Here they come.

- Before I let you go,I wanna talk more about

you and your career personally.

I forgot the year, but acritical year in terms of

you being on the set of, it wasn't called

Talladega Nights at that time (laughs).

- Texas ranger, how about you?

- Well, the teacher asked me

what was the capital of North Carolina.

- Mm-hmm.

- I said, Washington, DC.

- Bingo.

- Talladega Nights was something that

I never intended to be an actor, at all.

Where I'm from it's 9,000 people.

My mom's an accountant, mydad does construction work.

I want it to be George Strait,ride bulls and draw pictures.

(Host laughs)

That's what I want to(drowned out by laughter)

Those were my aspirations.

Um, I auditioned for Talladega Nights,

it was an open call in the newspaper

because my dad went fishingand me and mom were bored.

That was it. That wasthe only reason we went.

And it was terrifying.

I ended up landing it.

A lot of people don'trealize that I got saved

while filming Talladega Nights.

And as a seven year old,brand new, just got saved,

I wasn't comfortable withit. Neither was my family.

We're going, "Okay. We knowwe're not supposed to be here,

because this is too crazy ofa situation to not be of God."

- Mm-hmm.

- "How do we handle this?"

And I very vividlyremember calling my dad,

I'm like, "Hey."

And I remember going up to him and saying,

Mr. Andrew, "Do I reallyhave to say all this."

And he sat me up andlooked in my eyes and said,

"You never have to do anything

that you're not comfortable with."

Truth be known if Talladega Nights

had been a horrible experience,

I never would have, would've stepped back

into the acting industry again.

- While we're there, let me run through

some other films you've been in real quick

and just get your reaction.

- Diary of a Wimpy Kid.

- Greg Heffley's in my room!

Greg Heffley's in my room, Rebecca.

What do you want to do, Greg Heffley?

How about Twister?

- [Greg] I'm not reallythat much of a Twister guy.

- Candy!

- I was in middle school.

Sixth, seventh, and eighthgrade, every August, October,

that was wild.

Middle school in a publicschool is hard enough

when you're not in themiddle of the franchise

called Diary of a Wimpy Kid.

And it's even harder (laughs)playing the strangest kid.

(comical music)

- I'll save that,

for later.

- Uh, Space Warriors.

- Space Warriors.

I had grown up, I had neverseen the Lethal Weapon movies

at that point in time.

But I had grown up with LonesomeDove and with Predator II.

And I'm standing here,we're doing the little bit

and in walks Danny Glover.

And (laughs) like, "Oh, myGod. That's Danny Glover."

And, that was a dream.

- Are we gonna die?

- Piece of cake.

- What if I hurl?

- Keep breathing. Don't hold your breath.

- I think I am gonna hurl.

- That was a blast.

That was the only filmI've actually done at home

more or less.

I'm from Alabama. We filmed at

the Huntsville Space and Rocket Center.

- Mother's Day.

- Mother's Day. I got mysenior year of high school.

(host laughing)

It's the first week,

first week of my senioryear of high school.

Uh, we go in and Iremember on the first day

here we are with Gary Marshall,

who is responsible fordiscovering Julia Roberts,

Robin Williams. He created Happy Days.

He created Mork and Mindy,Laverne and Shirley.

Um, and then on the back end,

it being his last filmbefore he passed away,

that was an honor.

- Again, congratulations to Grayson

on the new film and ongraduating from Lee University.

Before we take a break,

we want to bring you thisweek's story in pictures.

Here's this week Studio 5, snapshot.

♪ What would you do,if I sang out of tune ♪

♪ Would you stand up and walk out on me ♪

- [Host] That's a familiar theme song.

The Wonder Years ran forsix years, 1988 to 1993.

We share this picture perfectlook back at the series

set in the 1960s, as itprepares for a reboot

and return to television.

With Saladin K. Patterson, Lee Daniels,

and the original show star, Fred Savage

in the driver's seat.

This time though,

it's the life of a blackmiddle class family

in Montgomery, Alabama,in the turbulent late 60s.

The Wonder Years, is thisweek's Studio 5, snapshot.

Coming up.

- I've got it.

(heaves)

(grunts)

The cast and creatorsof Disney's Frozen II,

take us inside the makingof, Into The Unknown.

♪ Some things never change ♪

♪ And I'm holding on tight to you ♪

♪ Holding on tight to you ♪

♪ Holding on tight to you ♪

♪ Holding on tight to you ♪

- [Lady Announcer] Remember for a moment,

what it was like to be a child.

You believed every story you were told.

You saw a world full ofendless possibilities.

What stories will the world's orphaned

and at risk children believe?

We believe the Bible tells the only story

truly worth believing.

We believe that every child

should have the opportunity to dream,

the chance to take challenges

and turn them into possibilities.

The chance to stand onthe promises of God,

to recognize their place

in the greatest story ever told.

They have their whole lives ahead of them.

There's is a world

of endless possibilities.

They are looking for a story to believe.

We will tell them that story.

Will you join us?

(uplifting music)

- Welcome back to Studio 5.

Fans, young and oldlove Disney's Frozen II.

And now we have a riveting and honest look

at the process of makingthe hit animated feature.

(playful jingle)

- For Frozen, we hadcreated these two sisters.

I get caught up in thembecause they feel real to me.

They feel like family.

That's part of what drives us.

For Frozen II, there's asense of responsibility

and high expectations.

(upbeat music)

These are some lettersthat people have written

to the studio.

"My name is Rachel I'm 15 years old

and Let It Go literally saved my life."

To be working on a newmovie with these characters

that people love.

This is a special time.

- It's nerve wracking.

I've never animated Elsa, before.

- The challenge is carrying on

what people fell in lovewith in the first movie.

(screaming)(laughing)

- In animation, you write ascript and then you record it.

- Ready?

- And then they go backto the drawing board.

And it changes dramatically.

(paper falling onto a heap)

- Sometimes if the cast have time,

they can come in and we getto ask them questions about,

how they see the character.

It might be fun to actually like,

just go to like people'sdesks, so you can see

like what they're actuallyworking on right now.

- Yes.

- They don't know.

- Hi.

(door knock)

- Hello guys?

- Hi.

- I have a special guest here.

- Oh, my God it's...

- Hey, sorry to barge in on you.

Hi.

- Hi.

- Hi, you. Good to see you.

- Oh, my gosh. It's so good to see you.

(laughing)

Oh, my gosh.

- Mallory had done somework in Into the Unknown.

Can you show the...

- Yes. Okay.

Oops. Sorry.

(screen playing music)

♪ Into the unknown ♪

- Let's move on to the chorus.

♪ Some things never change ♪

♪ Turn around and the time has flown ♪

♪ Some things stay the same ♪

♪ Though the future remains unknown ♪

♪ May our good luck last ♪

♪ May our past be past ♪

♪ Times moving fast ♪

♪ It's true ♪

♪ Some things never change ♪

♪ And I'm holding on tight to you ♪

♪ Holding on tight to you ♪

♪ Holding on tight to you ♪

♪ Holding on tight to you ♪

- Really nice. Really nice.

(upbeat children's tune)

- This is really embarrassing. (laughs)

It's easier to animate, at least for me,

once I can kind of likeget in front of a camera

and just like act out whatKristoff is feeling in the moment

and then just see likehow that translates.

Are you ready? (laughs)

- So the reindeer on theright have this audio,

(singing) la, la

It's like...

♪ Lost in the wood ♪

- (laughs) So they're like high pitched.

And then the left reindeerare the lower lows.

♪ Lo, lo, lost in the woods ♪

- And then Sven.

♪ Lost in the woods, in the woods ♪

- It's cool knowing that all these like

really high pitch, silly tracks,

when they're all puttogether sound like...

♪ The woods ♪

♪ Lost in the woods, inthe woods, in the woods ♪

- Like that.

- Lieutenant Mattias.

- Your highness. What are you doing?

- It's really cool.

Because you can tellthey used my face, right?

Like the way that he'llsmile sometimes or laugh,

and they'll have like these cheeks.

So I am tickled pink to be, um,

like the first animated character

that is of African descent in this world.

And it's interestingbecause when I watch it,

it's like

(boulder crashing)

Yeah, he fits. He belongs.

Oh, this is gonna be good.

- Alright, ready?

♪ Into the unknown ♪

- Alison loves these characters.

♪ Into the unknown ♪

- I wasn't prepared to cry.

♪ Into the unknown ♪

- If you can do better you have to do it.

- I actually animated her,based on videotaping myself.

♪ Oh, oh ♪

- I can't believe I just showedthat to you guys. (laughs)

♪ Oh, oh ♪

- Is that better?

(laughter)

♪ Oh, oh ♪

- I guess you could say,we're going into the unknown.

- Into the The Unknown, making Frozen II,

is streaming right now on Disney+.

As we get ready to take a break,

we have this week's numberone story in our countdown

of uplifting entertainment, headlines.

- At number one.

♪ Untangling all my emotions ♪

- Uh-huh.

♪ And I'm turning them into lessons ♪

- Yeah.

- [Host] Gospel music runsdeep for hip hop hit maker,

Pharrell Williams.

- I just remember like the fire

that you would see in church.

- [Host] And he's bringingthat fire to Netflix,

in the docuseries, Voices of Fire.

Traveling his Virginia hometown today,

to build a world-class gospel choir.

- I appreciate myformative years in church,

more now than I did back then.

- [Host] The Netflix series,streams later this year.

Just moments away.

♪ My life, is more dear to him ♪

- Another side of theyounger Grayson Russell.

- If you could go back in time

and give your younger self some advice,

what would you tell him?

Get his older and wiseranswers to that question,

when we come back.

(children's music)

- Daddy?

- Yeah, buddy.

- How many nickels are in a dollar?

- There are 20 nickels in a dollar.

- How do birds fly?

Is milk gonna make my bones stronger?

- Yeah. Yeah.

- Daddy, when we die,will we go to heaven?

- [Lady Host] Do you have the answer

to life's biggest question?

Call the 700 Club. We'llhelp you find answers

to the important questionslife brings your way.

- And welcome back to Studio 5.

This week's soundtrackcomes courtesy of rapper KB.

The song is called Armies.

Take a listen

♪ Almighty, in life, in death ♪

♪ Bring the war I got a ♪

♪ I know who reigns forever ♪

♪ He is a friend of mine ♪

♪ No rival ♪

♪ No virus ♪

♪ My God is angel army ♪

- Armies, Armies on that musical note,

we are almost out of timefor this edition of Studio 5.

So let's take a look right now

at what's coming up next week.

- Get yourselves readyfor a turbulent election.

- [Host] East Texas teamsdive into a week long exercise

in political campaigns.

And their stories becomea major motion picture.

Renee, um, take me to thatexperience, uh, of Boy State.

I mean, I see that the issueof race certainly uh, comes up.

What do you recall most about doing this?

We're sitting down with thereal life cast and creators

of the award winningdocumentary Boy State.

- As to the politicalviews, voice to my speech,

sometimes you gottasay what you got to say

in an attempt to win.

- Then where did your passionfor politics get started?

And we're finding answersas well as inspiration.

- I think he's a fantastic politician.

But I don't think a fantastic politician

is a compliment either.

- Please be sure to come backand join us for that story

and so much more next week.

But before we end thisweek, we have time for just

one more thing.

We want to get a finalword from Grayson Russell.

If you could go back in timeand give you a younger self,

some advice, what would you tell him?

- Oh man.

Um, it's okay to not know everything.

And it's okay to not have an answer.

So every question thatrolls down the pipe,

because there's a good more that it does

and that's his job and not yours.

And when things happenthat you may not understand

or may not agree with,it's okay not to know why.

It's not necessarily your job.

But it is your job to be on point

during those circumstances.

Whether those are professionalor personal or otherwise.

Yeah, I would look back and go,

"Hey man, pay attention toeverything that's going on.

Take all this in. When you'resitting at dinner tables,

surrounded by Will Pharrell

and all these other fantastic talents.

But you know what, whenlife gets sideways,

it's not your job to know how it won.

But now that you knowthere's a God to teach you

and to lean on to and that's all right."

- Grayson, that is a great final word

for this edition of Studio 5,

and this week's look atuplifting entertainment.

Until next time, I encourage you,

to make time to uplift someone around you.

And then please come on back

and see where Studio5 takes you next week.

Bye bye everybody. Thanks for watching.