Why is Colin Farrell looking so thin? At a recent press conference in Spain, the usually fit actor stunned reporters with his appearance - not to mention what he said.

“I lost weight because my role demanded it,” Farrell told reporters simply of his upcoming film, Triage. “It was all very healthy.”

“Amen,” director Danis Tanovic followed, breaking the tension. Everyone - including Farrell - laughed.

Farrell spent five weeks in Alicante, Spain, filming Triage, in which he plays a war reporter in Bosnia in the early 1990s.

The actor also spoke of his great respect for war reporters “spending time in war zones to tell stories that capture the imagination - as well as for their wives and girlfriends.”

Colin Farrell says he’s thankful for the early diagnosis of his 4-year-old son’s neuro-genetic disorder and for the vast joy his “little fella” experiences.

“He’s nothing but a gift,” Farrell, 31, said about son James on the Irish interview show Tubridy Tonight. With paternal pride he said: “As far as I’m concerned he’s exactly the way he should be.”

Though he was on TV to promote his latest movie, In Bruges, Farrell addressed the topic of James, whose Angelman Syndrome was revealed publicly last year.

According to his father, before James had celebrated his first birthday, he was showing signs of illness, which led to an early diagnosis for the boy.

Early Intervention

“I’ve been very lucky that it was early because he started having seizures at about eight or nine months,” said Farrell. Initially doctors thought James had cerebral palsy but soon he was diagnosed correctly and “we got early intervention,” said the Irish actor.

The genetic disorder, which can impair speech, movement and balance meant that James walked his first few steps last fall, when he was 4. “It’s just different,” said the actor. “It’s not different to me. He has his own path. He’s just brilliant.”

Farrell shares custody of his son with the boy’s mother, model Kim Bordenave. He said he decided to go public about his son’s health after people started asking questions about his involvement with the Special Olympics.

“I didn’t talk about my son %26#91;but%26#93; I felt like I was betraying him, like it could be misconstrued as shame, which would be terrible, because he’s such a celebration,” says Farrell.

Questioning the concept of “normal,” Farrell says his son is happier than so many people in the world. “I look around and I see people who move perfectly, who walk with grace, who speak with great diction and clarity and a great use of the English language and we’re all miserable f—ers - including me, at times.

“And then I see this fella who doesn’t move the way what’s perceived to be ‘normal’ is, and he’s as happy as can be.”

• Colin Farrell, entering the Russian Turkish

Baths - for a steam and some cleansing - in New York’s East

Village.

• Tyra Banks, celebrating her February Essence cover with a bash - and impromptu America’s Next

Top Model reunion - at Room Service, a New York nightspot. The talk

show host (and Fashion Week employee) was

feted by recent Top Model victor Jaslene Gonzalez, Jay Manuel and Nigel Barker.

• Paris Hilton, swinging from a chandelier during

an afterparty for her film The Hottie and the Nottie at the Green

Door in Hollywood. When the heiress wasn’t flying high, she was dancing all

night along with Adrian Grenier. “She was quite festive,” a

partygoer tells us. Um, yeah!

• Mischa Barton, rocking out to the Jonas Brothers concert at Universal Studios in California. Also there: Heather Locklear, who cemented her “hip mom” status by

taking daughter Ava, 10, backstage to meet the band - while wearing a Jonas Brothers hoodie. Meanwhile, Jamie Foxx and High School Musical’s Corbin Bleu took in the

music.

• Halle Berry, indulging in a pregnancy craving

- a truffled Kobe burger with blue cheese, Applewood bacon, avocado and

chipotle aioli - at the Whisper Lounge in Los Angeles. There with a

friend, the mom-to-be told her server she only has one month to go.

• Brooke Shields, talking about her exercise regimen -then getting some actual exercise - at the candlelit spinning studio

SoulCycle in New York. The Lipstick Jungle star brought her own

special shoes for the class. Tiki Barber was taking the class, too.

• By SHARON COTLIAR, JENNIFER GARCIA, JESSICA HERNDON and ALYSSA SHELASKY

Tuesday’s Caught in the Act >

It is taking three top names Jude Law, Johnny Depp and Colin Farrell - to step into Heath Ledger’s final role, in the unfinished movie The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, according to a rep for Law.

Speaking to the BBC, Law’s spokeswoman confirmed that the three actors would play Ledger’s role of Tony. She was unaware, however, as to how the part would be restructured in the film, which deals with magic.

Ledger, 28, was still shooting the $30-million movie, directed by Terry Gilliam and costarring Christopher Plummer, when he was found dead from an accidental overdose of prescription medicines on Jan. 22.

The weekend before Ledger’s death, he and Plummer had both completed the London portion of the movie’s shoot and were due to continue filming the following week in Vancouver, Canada. Production was suspended when the tragedy struck.

At the time the production left England, Plummer told PEOPLE, “Heath was in very high spirits. He was just enjoying himself tremendously. It’s a rather fanciful script, and he was wonderful in this role.”