DE-PENNED

So what’s this big role that got Sean Penn a temporary reprieve (until Aug. 1) from a 32-day jail sentence? A starring part in a major picture?

Nope. Penn will be giving testimony--in a supporting role of a trial witness--in “Judgment in Berlin.” The American-West German co-production, to start shooting Wednesday, is directed and co-written by dad Leo Penn.

Sean’s busy being tutored in a German accent for the pic, which is based on the true story of an East German couple who hijacked a Polish airliner to the American sector of West Berlin in 1978. Martin Sheen--himself no stranger to the law, with another anti-nuke protest arrest last week in NYC--portrays the American judge who tried them.

The main role of the male hijacker went to a young German actor--whose name no one at Sheen/Greenblatt Productions could come up with when we called at press time.