I wanna be a part of it?

“So, why are you so intent on getting to New York?” they asked. Seeing as this was Entertainment Weekly, I figured I had better come up with a good answer — we all know how much every little question at a job interview can mean.

Simple. Much simpler than “What’s your biggest weakness?” or “What would you contribute to our publication?”

“There’s just something very ? cinematic about it.” To me, it was profound — the perfect answer to a seemingly unimportant throw-away question. I had ushered in the inevitable follow-up question and was given the go-ahead to gush about the greatest city in the world without seeming like I was kissing butt.

Without saying: “Hire me; I like movies,” I had gotten across my point and opened the door to a 10-minute conversation about why you must live in New York if you really do, indeed, love film. Within five days, I hope to know just how convincing I was.

What I spent those 10 minutes trying to say can be summed up in a simple panning shot in a Woody Allen flick — even a two-second still in “Manhattan’s” opening can do it. It can be summed up by an irrelevant transition shot in lighter fare, like John Cusack’s “Serendipity,” or darker, seedier material — try a night shot in “American Psycho” or “Taxi Driver.”

Undeniably, no matter how arrogant or preoccupied you have found New Yorkers to be in the past, there is something about their Gotham City that glows, something that exudes life and energy even at the latest hour of the night in the most bitter, ass-biting cold. Maybe it emanates from the gross sewer grates that line their sidewalks. Take a trip through the Village on a frosty night — you may think you’re in “Eyes Wide Shut.”

Maybe not? Maybe it’s the soulfully eclectic smorgasbord of international restaurants lining each and every street. Casa Bianca’s doesn’t hold a torch to Spike Lee’s Sal’s Famous Pizzeria.

Surely it’s no one thing — more likely, it’s the vast collection of recognizable landmarks that have accumulated recognition through their silver screen appearances, right? One can hold an argument that it’s not the city that is so camera friendly, but film has simply lent its graces by littering its streets with familiar film locations: Times Square, Central Park in the fall, Wall Street in the 80s, and my favorite — FAO Schwartz. I would simply and respectfully disagree.

“When Harry Met Sally’s” autumn parks. “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” daunting department stores. “Home Alone 2’s” pigeon filth. These are not fictitious movie bi-products. They are as real as Vilas Hall.

This is no fairy tale city created through movie magic. This is a city that emanates magic — the kind of thing that indirectly leads to and inspires movies. In that way, I find it best described as “cinematic.” We are simply lucky enough to have the technology to capture it on film. Everything about New York begs to be recorded — on 8mm film, home camcorder, digital video ? no matter.

We can only hope that the cowardly attack on this city of cities will not deter film crews from its streets for long. With fears of panning past the spot where the World Trade Center used to be, directors and producers have shelved New York-relevant films, avoided New York settings and erased previously recorded footage from completed films.

Movie magic rides on the ability to forget, and no such attack could take away from the magic of New York City, so why stop? It would be an utter disappointment not to see the holiday windows of Macy’s, the sloshy downtown streets and the Christmas cheer of New York — at least in our theaters — this winter.

For those of you who offer, “Well, why don’t you go live there if you like it so much, you bum?” — I’m already two steps ahead of you.