I'm amazed no one has pointed out that the idea of a centurion being sentenced to live until the return of Jesus the Christ was taken from the "Casca" series of novels by Barry Sadler. Hollywood will take ideas from anywhere and have no shame about not crediting the source!
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Actually, Cartaphilus is a much earlier character from Western legendry and some data can be found here:
http://www.wral.com/golo/blogpost/3771787/
Did Sadler "credit the source", i.e., Western legendry?
"Did Sadler "credit the source", i.e., Western legendry?"--bastash8647
Probably not, but he certainly was the first to write a popular series of novels on it. I'm pretty sure the writers of "The Seventh Sign" didn't have the initiative (or intelligence) to go research "western legendry" to lift the concept of a unrepentant centurion living out the centuries until Jesus the Christ's return. I do not give Hollywood screenwriters (or at least the producers who dictate what they write)much credit for innovation.
BTW, thanks for the link. It's a fascinating article!
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I know this thread is ancient but....Barry Sadler probably drew from a book by Joseph Gaer "The Legend of the Wandering Jew" published in 1961.
The Casca" series was published in 1979. It draws various incarnations of the legend into the one book. Cartaphilus is one of the incarnations.