Barbie star Ryan Gosling reveals what ‘Kenergy’ really means

Barbie star Ryan Gosling has revealed the true meaning of “Kenergy”.
The Canadian actor coined the term earlier this summer while promoting the year’s biggest – and pinkest – film, which has topped the 2023 box office chart with takings of $1.4bn (£1.1bn).

He has now attempted to define “Kenergy” and its associated verbs (“Kenning”, for example) after admitting it had “haunted” him for much of the year.

Image: Ryan Gosling and Margot Robbie at the London premiere of Barbie earlier this year
Gosling said: “What is ‘Kenergy’, other than a word I made up on a press junket, so I didn’t have to really answer any questions, that’s haunted me ever since?
“It’s a noun, that I’ve come to understand as the strength and vitality required for a sustained period of ‘Kenning’.

“What’s ‘Kenning’, other than another random word I made up?
“It’s a verb. To Ken is to give more than is necessary or required to reflect so that others might shine.”

More on Barbie

Related Topics:

‘His life changed forever’
Gosling, who starred as Ken opposite Margot Robbie’s titular doll, was speaking at music awards show Hitmakers in Los Angeles.

Advertisement

He was there to present music producer and writer Mark Ronson with soundtrack of the year for his work on Barbie, which included the I’m Just Ken ballad performed by Gosling.
Gosling hailed Ronson as a prime example of the “Kenergy” he has spent the year trying to explain.

Spreaker This content is provided by Spreaker, which may be using cookies and other technologies. To show you this content, we need your permission to use cookies. You can use the buttons below to amend your preferences to enable Spreaker cookies or to allow those cookies just once. You can change your settings at any time via the Privacy Options. Unfortunately we have been unable to verify if you have consented to Spreaker cookies. To view this content you can use the button below to allow Spreaker cookies for this session only.
Enable Cookies Allow Cookies Once

Click to subscribe to Backstage wherever you get your podcasts
The actor added: “Up until six months ago, the entire world gave zero f**** about Ken. He was just this 70-year-old crotchless doll with no house, no car, no job, and no voice, and look at him now.
“He has a Grammy-nominated power ballad and the voice of an angel. What happened? It’s simple.
“He met Mark Ronson, and his life changed forever.”
Barbie is also the UK’s biggest film of the year so far and contributed more than £80m to the country’s economy, having predominantly been filmed in Hertfordshire.

Directed by Greta Gerwig, it is the highest-grossing film ever helmed by a woman.
For many cinemagoers, it served as one half of an unlikely double bill with Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer after a social media craze that drove one of the biggest surges in ticket sales since the COVID-19 pandemic.

Source : Sky News