Heather Headley Tapped For Whitney Houston Role In 'The Bodyguard' Musical

Earlier this year it was reported that Warner Bros was in talks to remake the "The Bodyguard." Now comes news that a musical version of the 1992 blockbuster, which starred Whitney Houston and Kevin Costner, is heading to London's West End.

According to Broadway.com, Tony and Grammy Award-winner Heather Headley is set to step into Houston's role as Rachel Marron in the Thea Sharrock-directed production, slated for a Fall 2012 debut. Headley’s stage credits include "The Lion King," "Do Re Mi" and Elton John’s "Aida," for which she won a 2000 Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical.

While Headley has no problem reprising the role, in which Houston sang Dolly Parton's timeless classic 'I Will Always Love You,' international pop sensation Rihanna has refuted reports from earlier this year that she would play the role in the feature film remake.

Rihanna explained to OK! Magazine that she's not in favor of some of her peers who've made the transition to Hollywood as singers. "I want to separate the two," she told the tabloid. "I hate it when singers do singing movies all the time, because you can never look at them as anybody else ... I want to play a character ... My whole life is playing Rihanna. Being a singer (in a film) won't be a stretch for me. I like challenges, and being an actor is playing a role, being able to step into somebody else's shoes, that's the excitement."

Rihanna will make her silver screen debut in 2012 in Peter Berg's film "Battleship," scheduled to come to theaters May 18.