'Barbie' stars contemplate the meaning of 'Kenergy'
Director Greta Gertwig and stars of the upcoming “Barbie” movie Margot Robbie, Ryan Gosling, Kate McKinnon, Issa Rae and Michael Cera join Yahoo Entertainment’s Kevin Polowy to discuss the meaning of “Kenergy” — a term coined on set to describe the intangible masculine energy of Gosling’s performance in the film.
Video Transcript
KEVIN POLOWY: We've heard a lot about the "Kenergy".
RYAN GOSLING: Yeah.
KEVIN POLOWY: How do you define or describe "Kenergy?"
MARGOT ROBBIE: I don't know how to articulate it really.
GRETA GERWIG: I'm going to take Ryan's lead on this because he said, and I think it's true, like you know it when you see some "Kenergy" but to put words around it, it's really to diminish the "Kenergy".
RYAN GOSLING: Kind of like Highlanders, like when you're in the room with each other.
MARGOT ROBBIE: What are Highlanders?
RYAN GOSLING: They're immortal and they sword fight. And when they chomp off the other one's head they get the souls of all the other Highlanders.
KEVIN POLOWY: You're a big Highlander fan, huh?
RYAN GOSLING: I'd say I'm a big fan of it. Yeah.
GRETA GERWIG: You just know it. We send videos to each other if we see something that I'm like this is "Kenergy" and he's like, spotted in the wild.
MICHAEL CERA: Ping pong. There was a ping pong rivalry.
KEVIN POLOWY: On set?
MICHAEL CERA: I wasn't in it in that world but they were all working out together and they would have a competitive ping pong thing going on.
MARGOT ROBBIE: I think it's definitely a play on like, you know, DD, was a real acronym commonly used not that long ago. And you hear that and you're kind of like, yeah. We all just know. We know. We know what you're getting at.
ISSA RAE: "Kenergy" I think is a whole lot of nothing.
KATIE MCKINNON: I think it's a recognition of the ways in which masculinity under patriarchy is limiting. And their outfits proved it because they looked really stupid.
GRETA GERWIG: I think there's two types of "Kenergy" I think but I think the "Kenergy" he gets to at the end it's like self-actualized "Kenergy".
RYAN GOSLING: What do you think "Kenergy" is?
KEVIN POLOWY: I feel like it's undefinable. It's like beauty or art.
