Stephen Curry's Cigar & Spirits Magazine Shoot | Behind The Scenes

Good, so whenever Monty gives us the word—

Cool.

We have a couple of setups over here. Yeah, we're gonna try and get more or less, while we gave us this location, we're letting the smoke out here. I think we're gonna do 3 quick ones while we still have a little bit of soft light. We're gonna kind of backlight you over there for shot 1.

Okay.

Then have you sit on that spring thing and kind of do the same thing, try and work with a little natural light and a little fill.

Yeah.

And then we'll come over here for kind of the crowd cover shot. I'll meet up, we'll move all the mics over. If you need a break or whatever, just go ahead and tell me. I don't want to like get you dizzy or anything like that.

Understood.

Okay, awesome.

That was good.

That was so good. That was a shot. Wow.

All right, video good?

I'm gonna put in the photo stamps, correct? Yep, that was fantastic. Kelly, okay, keep that. Oh yeah, I want this top. Beautiful backlight right there. That was nice. Yeah, that was epic. Right there examining the cigar.

Perfect.

Keep it in the camera, like right there. There it is.

Good.

How's my dark?

No, you're good.

Cool, perfect. Gonna take a straight one through, man. You surprised with how successful this has been?

He's having a bad day at work.

Yeah, it's been tough. That's what I like, that tight right there.

Oh yeah.

There's actually a really set up shot too. Yeah, I feel good about this. Let's set up shot 2. And then we're also shooting it on this camera with this vintage lens from like 1950. Oh, for real?

Yeah.

So what it does, it does a swirl bokeh in green. You can't quite see it, but these cameras, you see how it's just kind of like crispy?

Yeah.

This one floats everything in the background.

I understood.

Which is kind of cool, so.

Especially all that nature right there.

Yep, that was the point. Love your shoulders kind of to me, left shoulder to me, profile to you. That's it. All right, nice. That looks dope. That looks good. Oh, bro, this is great.

You doing what? You gonna like filming me? Oh yeah, for me.

Like gentlemen. Wow.

Cigars and Spirits, photo shoot out here in beautiful Silicon Valley, Sand Hill. Not many days you come to work and say, "Hey, we're gonna smoke cigars first thing in the morning." That's how you get your day started. So, like gentlemen, have a nice little stick, maybe a couple sticks. Sips. Talk about the brand, talk about what we're trying to do. Gentleman's Cut. It's nice to have a little companion for the bourbon today.

How'd you guys come up with, like, Gentleman?

Kind of like nicknames for family members and you bring people together, stuff just happens. And it kind of came, a toast. And one of my guys, Stoney, would say every time we get together and commemorate a moment, But he got it from somebody who got it from somebody who got it from somebody. So it kind of became its own meaning, its own brand, its own kind of call to action. And it's just like your creed for any moment that you want to just cement, like, hey, we were all here, we're all having a good time, we're all creating memories right now. And we say, like, gentlemen.

Did you cough on your first cigar?

Did I? Did I? I remember exactly where it was too. Mallard Head Golf Course in Mooresville, North Carolina. Junior year of college.

Who gave you the cigar?

That's a great question. Trying to remember who it was now. I had a couple assistant coaches that smoked cigars at Davidson. I don't know exactly who gave it to me. It was one of those you had in my dorm and I was like, I'm going to play golf, I'm going to take it with me. In one of my boys' weddings, first wedding that I was in as an adult. We went out to go smoke cigars during the reception, and we were enjoying them too much that I missed the Davidson reunion picture.

Hahaha.

'Cause I was out on like a tee box in the middle of the night smoking cigar. Missed all the festivities. I still get some flack for that one.

That's fun. And then give me a little profile that way, Steph, if you don't mind.

This way?

Yeah, that one's it. That's dope, that's cool. Hold that. Let me know if I'm blocking my light source here, Kelly. No, it's a buck.

Little 3-finger pull here. Bottega shoes, give me 6'5" on them.

Shooting guard now. That's it.

A true combo. Action, ready when you are, my man.

Looks great. Looks good. Perfect. Turn it, bring it back. Kill it. Just like that. Looks great. Right there, perfect. Let's do that one more time. Can I get a little more atmosphere? Keep it going, keep it going, keep it going. Let's do a lot this time. Keep it going. And kill it. Thank you. I kind of let it go too long. Sorry. Might need to get a bounce and wave that out. Getting barbecued over there. Sorry about that one.

That's nice. Extra crispy. That's strobe, y'all. Strobes are popping.

Isn't it nice, him gazing at the cup? Just like taking it in. Yeah. That's great stuff. Right there. Hold that. Hold that. Don't let that one go. Hold that for me. I'm going to go ahead and pause it. I want to make this look a little better. So what we'll do is we'll go ahead and reset program shots. We'll go to start point, and then we'll go here. I want to start right here. Great.

The, the whole Gentleman's Cut line has been special. Just started drinking bourbon about a decade ago, um, all the traditional Kentucky straight bourbon whiskey brands that everybody's come to love. And it's a very, you know, tenured and traditional category of spirit. For us, blending a little bit of my world to the traditional, you know, bourbon category has been cool. We call it the Player Edition and Player Exclusive Edition, which for me in my basketball world, like, I wear a bunch of my Curry brand shoes.

Sure.

You have the, you know, the standard retail feature that everybody gets to participate in. And then we have these exclusives that I wear on the court that bring a little energy, a little creativity, a little flair to what I'm wearing.

Mm-hmm.

So we wanted to kind of mimic that with Gentleman's Cut. It's been cool to now have our 16-year bourbon, a 14-year rye that's coming out, and to have each one of those varietals kind of have a different expression of what you can put into the bottle with the different mash bills a different length and that you could age it, but also create a great storytelling platform. And there's a reason why they're the 16-year, the father-to-son exclusive, which my dad played 16 years in the NBA. Father being Del Curry. Del Curry played 10 years in Charlotte, but 16 years total in the NBA. And so we have a 16-year aged bourbon that kind of commemorates— I just finished my 16th year.

Would you like your legacy to be personal and professional?

It's the cliché answer that most people get, but I truly believe it's As great of a basketball player resume looks, like, if that's what you are known for only, then fail at life, essentially.

Yeah, yeah.

The opportunity that I have and why I'm doing so many things off the court, I'm super excited about being a dad. Like, I have 4 amazing kids that, to your point, when, you know, basketball's over and I get to, you know, be a part of their journey in a way that I am now, but in terms of like kind of, you know, supporting them and encouraging them in whatever they decide to do in life. We talked about a lot of it with the foundation, what the golf tour is, what entrepreneurship means. Like you have to kind of leave it open-ended because you don't know what's going to be down the line 5 years from now. But I am proud and very— just want to go deeper in everything that I'm doing right now.

Right.

Create that sustainability so that in 10, 20 years years our foundation is known for creating a model in Oakland that impacts lives. To the point where I got some representation in the world of golf through the tour that we're doing. I do my part as best, most honest job that I have as a dad and a husband.

No doubt.

But that's you.

Amen.

Chin chin.

Like gentlemen.

Like gentlemen, you said. Like gentlemen.